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iphone in apple india store

ifeng.com technology news beijing time on october 2, according to reuters, industry observers and people familiar with the matter said that tata group’s apple iphone parts factory in southern india was severely damaged by a fire, which may affect the sales peak of india’s holiday season. before the arrival of iphone production, this will force apple oems to source key components from china or elsewhere.

a fire over the weekend resulted in an indefinite halt to production at tata's hosur plant in tamil nadu state. this factory is the only supplier in india that provides iphone backplanes and some other components to apple oem foxconn and tata's own iphone assembly plants.

research firm counterpoint research estimates that local sales of iphone 14 and 15 in india during the indian festival season from the end of october to early november this year will be 1.5 million units. however, due to the impact of the fire,apple will have a supply gap of up to 15%.

"the production of older iphone models in india will be affected by 10%-15%. apple can offset this impact by importing more components and moving more export inventory to india." counterpoint co-founder neil shah neil shah said. counterpoint has been tracking apple's global shipments for years.

tata is one of india's largest conglomerates. customs data available from commercial channels shows that as of august 31 this year, in addition to selling iphones locally, tata also exported iphones to the netherlands and the united states, and exported some parts and components to china, with a total value of more than 250 million us dollars. tata declined to comment.

ask china for help

counterpoint said apple suppliers usually reserve three to four weeks of backplane inventory. however, an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter estimated that apple is likely to have up to eight weeks of inventory and therefore will not be immediately affected.

however, they added that if the production suspension continues,apple may build another assembly line in china or add shifts to ensure indian iphone makers get the parts they need.recurring supply chain disruptions have cast a pall over prime minister narendra modi's "make in india" plan, especially in the electronics sector.

apple has been seeking to diversify its supply chain and expand manufacturing operations outside of china, but several fire incidents in india last year caused suppliers foxlink and pegatron to temporarily suspend operations. indian authorities discovered that much of the fire safety equipment at the foxlink factory was not functioning properly. apple contract manufacturers wistron and foxconn have also been affected by labor unrest in recent years.

"these are temporary setbacks," said prabhu ram, vice president at cybermedia research. "continued efforts to improve safety and operational standards will be critical to strengthening india's position as an emerging global electronics manufacturing hub. very important."

tata is one of apple's latest suppliers in india. analysts estimate that india will account for 20%-25% of global iphone shipments this year, compared with 12%-14% last year.

the tata factory, which was hit hard by the fire, employs 20,000 workers. another department of the factory was originally scheduled to start producing complete iphones later this year. it is unclear whether the accident will cause a production delay. tata acquired another iphone factory near bengaluru from wistron last year and plans to acquire a second factory in tamil nadu from pegatron. (author/xiao yu)

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