Pegatron Corp, Apple’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer has started assembling the new iPhone 14 in India, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The report comes as relentless controls and spot lockdowns across China, where majority of Apple’s iPhones are manufactured, have hampered economic growth and taken a heavy psychological and financial toll on residents and companies.
Meanwhile, Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, began production of Apple’s iPhone 14 model in India in September, making Pegatron the second producer of the model in India, the Bloomberg report added.
All of Apple’s biggest Taiwanese suppliers, Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron, have ramped up iPhone assembly in India, boosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s financial incentives program, Bloomberg said.
China on Wednesday ordered an industrial park in the city of Zhengzhou that houses an iPhone factory belonging to Foxconn to enter a seven-day lockdown.
Read also: iPhone 14 Series Output in China Reduced by Apple Over Covid-19 Restrictions
Earlier this week, market research firm TrendForce said it has cut its iPhone shipments forecast for the fourth quarter by 2-3 million units, from 80 million previously, due to the troubles at the Zhengzhou plant, adding that its investigation of the situation found that the factory’s capacity utilization rates were now around 70 percent.
Pegatron declined to comment, whereas a spokesperson for Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters query.