After ramping up iPhone manufacturing in India in recent years, Apple will begin producing AirPods next year.
Apple’s supplier, Foxconn, will start assembling the wireless earbuds at a new factory near Hyderabad, Telangana, in Q1 2025. Trial production is already underway at the facility.
AirPods manufacturing to expand to India
Over the last few years, Apple’s manufacturing presence has rapidly grown in India. Post-COVID, the company has diversified its supply chain away from China, making India a secondary manufacturing base for iPhones.
Now, Bloomberg reports that Apple will start assembling AirPods in India from next year. This will make them the second major Apple product to be assembled in the country after the iPhone.
Despite its market share shrinking in recent years, Apple remains the leader in the wireless earbuds category. It apparently shipped 16.8 million AirPods in Q2 2024, as per Canalys, far ahead of its competitors like Samsung and Sony.
Besides China, Apple manufactured AirPods in Vietnam. It seems the company is gearing up to diversify the earbuds production further by making them in India.
Apple keeps growing in India
Apple could potentially double its iPhone production in India in the next two years. It is already making more iPhones in the country than you’d think. Appel also started making the iPhone 16 Pro in India within weeks of its global launch, a first for the company. Previously, the company only assembled non-Pro iPhones in the country for export to nearby markets and to meet local demand.
The expanded manufacturing efforts come as local iPhone sales keep soaring to a new high every quarter. Apple reportedly shipped 9 million iPhones in India in the first nine months of the year, representing a 35% YoY growth. iPhones also outsold Samsung devices in Q3 2024 despite the latter offering more affordable devices.
