iPhone production in India faced a huge setback last week when a fire broke out at the Tata Electronics plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. Several concerns were raised over the impact of this incident on the availability of the iPhone 16 Series since Tata is among the three key players that manufacture iPhones in India. Team MySmartPrice conducted thorough research, and here’s what we found.
iPhone 16 Production Slow Down in India?
Apple has been rapidly expanding its iPhone manufacturing in India, which accounts for almost 10% of the global production today. Since last year, the company has made available the latest Made-in-India iPhone models from day one, as we saw with the iPhone 15. The majority of the iPhones sold in India are manufactured locally, with only the Pro and Pro Max models being imported from China.
Last year, the Tata Group acquired Wistron’s facilities in India to become one of three iPhone makers in the country, besides Foxconn and Pegatron. Until early 2024, Tata was contributing 14% of the total iPhone production in India. The company announced plans to double its manufacturing capacity over the next few years.
After the accidental fire incident at Tata’s iPhone plant on September 28, the company halted all operations in that factory until further notice. Hence, the total iPhone manufacturing capacity has taken a significant hit.
However, a report from Business Line mentions that Apple has enough stocks of the latest iPhone 16 Series models, which will last them for the next three months. It is anticipated that the mishap at Tata’s plant will have no short-term effects on the iPhone 16 or overall iPhone availability.
Since Tata only accounts for 14% of total iPhone production in the country, the remaining 86% contribution from Foxconn and Pegatron remains unaffected. Considering the massive supply chain of Apple in China and Taiwan, the company has enough time to import some units from overseas to meet the local iPhone demand, if required.
It is worth noting that Apple has dealt with similar production issues in the past, and the company has never let such situations affect its product availability. Last year, some factory workers at the Foxconn plant in China went on strike, which slowed the production of iPhone Pro models globally. Apple smartly managed the situation, and the worldwide iPhone availability wasn’t impacted.
To sum it up, the fire incident at Tata’s plant in Hosur is less likely to have any impact on the availability of iPhone 16 models in India. Currently, investigations are ongoing to find out the root cause behind the accident. Until then, Tata will not resume iPhone production at that plant.
In the meanwhile, we might see Apple start making alternate arrangements such as temporarily increasing the manufacturing capacity at its Foxconn and Pegatron plans in the country.