In a new Medium post, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple could start a New Product Introduction (NPI) of the standard iPhone 17 in India, as the tech giant wouldn’t develop a new iPhone in China for the first time.
“In 2023, 12–14% of global iPhone shipments are made in India. Foxconn owns 75–80% of the iPhone production capacity in India,” he writes. “If all goes well, the proportion of iPhones made in India will increase to 20–25% by 2024.”
Kuo says Foxconn’s production scale in Zhengzhou and Taiyuan, China, is expected to decrease by 35–45% and 75–85%, respectively, by 2024. The NPI for the standard iPhone 17 (to be launched in the second half of 2025) is expected to start kick-off in India in the second half of 2024, he adds.
“It will be the first time for Apple to begin development of a new iPhone model outside of China. The standard iPhone is chosen for its lower-difficulty design development to reduce design risk,” Kuo writes. “ By making India’s Tata an iPhone assembler (already acquired Wistron’s iPhone production lines in India), Apple can strengthen its relationship with the Indian government. This move will benefit future sales of iPhones and other products in India and is critical to Apple’s growth over the next decade.”
