Foxconn Exploring Locations for iPhone and iPad Manufacturing Facilities in India - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Foxconn Exploring Locations for iPhone and iPad Manufacturing Facilities in India

by

Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn plans to travel to India and explore possible locations to reopen production facilities in the country, in a move that could bring iPhone assembly and potentially lower prices to the emerging market. Reuters reports that Foxconn could benefit from lower production costs in India as wages continue to increase in China, where the majority of its operations are currently based.

Foxconn Office FT
"Foxconn is sending a delegation of their officers to scout for locations in a month's time," Subhash Desai, Industries Minister of India's western state Maharashtra, told Reuters. The report claims Foxconn plans to build 10-12 facilities in India, such as factories and data centers, by 2020, although the Taiwan-based company has not provided any further details about its plans.

The return of Foxconn would provide an economic boost for India, which continues to rival neighboring China in the technology sector. The manufacturing company was forced to close shop in India last year after losing client Nokia, but now eyes a return to the country with plans to manufacture iPhones, iPads and iPods.

"A return of Foxconn -- which was forced to shut up shop in India last year after client Nokia closed -- would be a major victory for India, which badly needs to turn its tech boom into a manufacturing and employment boost.

India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has sought to reboot manufacturing, but the country is yet to rival China, particularly in technology where most factories will likely be assembly units to begin with."

Foxconn assembles iPhones, iPads and a number of other products for Apple, one of its main clients, and also serves as a manufacturing partner with other consumer electronics makers such as Xiaomi, Acer and Sony. Its main competitors include Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Quanta Computer.

Tags: Foxconn, India

Top Rated Comments

iPhysicist Avatar
141 months ago
The day chineese labour force just became to expensive is near (or has come already :oops:)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JeffyTheQuik Avatar
141 months ago
India is the new China.

I'm not sure how I've missed this for so long, but Foxconn was the brand of the case I used for the first computer I built when I was a kid back in 2002. Ordered it from the Tiger Direct catalog, lol. I'm old.
You have no idea what you're in for, kid. "Back in 2002" had me laughing.

:)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
groovyd Avatar
141 months ago
Please don't manufacture anything in India... quality is not their strong suit. As already posted, China is like the Swiss compared to India.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
maflynn Avatar
141 months ago
[MOD NOTE]
Enough with the generalizations and bickering.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pratikindia Avatar
141 months ago
Those who are questioning the quality of Foxconn produced Apple devices should remember that lots of products are assembled/manufactured in India and exported to many counties including USA. For example, Mercedes, Audi, BMW all assemble and manufacture their cars and they are best in business. So it is ridiculous to say that the quality would be bad.

It's not...thank god!

Actually having said that, I do get horrendous load times (minutes) when I'm not using my VPN.

EDIT: you know what, I'm checking over 3G now, I cant get it to load.

Yes, Yes perhaps Macrumors is banned in China ...
Not banned, but the javascript files used in the website are from banned sources like Google.

Please don't manufacture anything in India... quality is not their strong suit. As already posted, China is like the Swiss compared to India.
China is a copycat country. The products their companies manufacture are of very horrible quality.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macintoshmac Avatar
141 months ago
Yeah but Brazil is organizable. India is not. There's no way Foxconn could get the performance ratios in India anywhere near those of China or even Brazil. Software companies and call centers have pulled out of Bangalore. How would Foxconn be any different? Baksheesh only goes so far... Plus there's a deep and bitter rivalry between India and China - the Indians have a superiority complex, and the Chinese are not bothered.
Have you been to India, in the context of business related to manufacturing in India? How do you fathom that a lot of car companies are making their cars in India and exporting them abroad, if the society is corrupt to the core, dishonest through and through and hell on earth? On what exactly are you basing your comments?

Indian quality makes Chinese quality look like Swiss/German quality or magic.
You have not, and I mean really, seen the quality India can produce. Really.

India has a major issue with corruption which I've witnessed first hand but labeling Brazil/China as 'better' couldn't be further from the truth.

Indian government is indeed highly prone to corruption but not everyone in India out of its billions of people is inclined towards taking bribes or 'baksheesh' as you call it. If you have a problem with your computer, and the call gets routed to India, the Indian tech guy will work towards solving your issue, 'baksheesk' or no 'baksheesh' : quality of service however is a whole different issue which I won't even bother to open.

Rivalry between India and China ? Are you kidding me ? India specialises in the service sector while the Chinese excel at manufacturing : hardly any overlap. Militarily, China can have India for breakfast,lunch and dinner so I don't see what you are getting at.

Cheers mate
Correct. China is one country that can have a lot of countries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and not even burp as a mark of respect.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 yellow

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update. Apple Music - Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your...
Apple Logo Sketch Feature

Apple Has Now Unveiled Eight New Products This Month

Tuesday March 17, 2026 9:25 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping eight new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, and now the AirPods Max 2 this week. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone...