According to a report by ET, Apple is planning to increase India’s share in its global production, aiming to make the country account for 25 per cent of all iPhone production in the next 3 to 4 years. The company may hire over 6 lakh people in India by March 2025. For geopolitical reasons, Apple is pushing to end its dependence on China for iPhone production.

According to the report, by the end of the current financial year, Apple is estimated to directly employ 200,000 employees in India, of which 70 per cent will be women. The local Apple ecosystem can potentially create 500,000 to 600,000 jobs by March 2025. Since the introduction of the smartphone production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in 2020, iPhone assemblers and suppliers such as Foxconn, Tata and Pegatron have created 165,000 direct jobs in India.

Apple has progressively expanded its manufacturing footprint in India, initially focusing on producing entry-level and older iPhone models. The company began assembling iPhone 14 models domestically in 2021-2022. By 2023, iPhone 15 units produced in India were available in the global market from day one of sales. Initially, only the base models were manufactured locally, but Pegatron later took over production of the iPhone 15 Plus in India, a key step in Apple’s broader strategy to diversify its manufacturing operations.

According to a recent report, Apple will now also manufacture the Pro models in India, starting with the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max models. This is happening for the first time, as Apple has never made the Pro variants at its manufacturing plants in India. For this, Apple has reportedly started training workers at its Tamil Nadu plant to align local production with the worldwide release. Foxconn Technology Group, a key partner of Apple, will start assembling the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models made in India soon after the global launch scheduled for September 9.

Meanwhile, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously reported that the standard iPhone 17 will be developed and manufactured exclusively in India in late 2024, and its release is scheduled for 2025. Tata Electronics, after acquiring Wistron’s Indian assembly units, will collaborate with Foxconn and Pegatron for this production. A Business Standard report earlier this month also revealed that the 250-acre facility owned by Tata Electronics in Hosur, Tamil Nadu is hiring 50,000 blue-collar workers, most of whom are women.

Another report by the Wall Street Journal last year said that Apple and its suppliers are aiming to make over 50 million iPhones annually in India in the next two to three years. In addition, they intend to make hundreds of millions of units in the coming time.