Apple unlikely to make iPads, Macs here; eyes production of AirPods

Apple has no plans to start manufacturing iPads and Mac personal computers (PCs) in India, but is exploring options to start making AirPods in the country, people familiar with the matter said.

Belying wide expectations that the US tech major plans to locally produce all its other major products in India as well, the Cupertino-based company will focus on expanding iPhone manufacturing while increasing production of components in the South Asian nation.

As per officials aware of the details, Apple CEO Tim Cook, during his recent visit to India, told the government that Apple wants to do more in India, but did not specify details.


“While the finer details of Apple manufacturing were not discussed during Cook’s visit, Apple has not expressed interest in making Mac PCs here (in India),” said an official, who didn’t want to be quoted.

However, the government is hopeful that Apple might come onboard for Mac manufacturing as part of the revised and sweetened PLI scheme for IT hardware, with increased sops, which will be notified soon. But what queers the pitch is that Apple saw a sharp slowdown in its Mac sales in India as well as globally in the January-March quarter, with the outlook not that rosy either, said industry executives.

And India seems to have missed the bus in terms of iPads as well. Apple had tried to shift a part of the iPad manufacturing to India in 2021. But since the vendor was a wholly owned Chinese firm – BYD, it failed to get approvals from the government, and moved to Vietnam instead last year, another official said. In fact, back then BYD Electronics had also applied for the production-linked incentive (PLI) for smartphone manufacturing but was not selected.

Queries sent to BYD Electronics and Apple remained unanswered at the time of going to press.

While the government is open to Chinese participation in electronics manufacturing in India, the firms from the neighbouring country should be in a joint venture with an Indian entity. The government has not received any such application for a component JV so far, officials said.

As per an official in the ministry of electronics and IT (Meity), Apple, through its three Taiwanese contract manufacturers — Foxconn (Hon Hai), Wistron and Pegatron – have shared the commitment to expand till 2026, as part of the PLI scheme for smartphone manufacturing.

Further, the company has been increasingly sourcing components made locally, like enclosures for iPhone are sourced from the Tata Electronics’ Hosur facility. “We have been informed that the company is looking to expand component manufacturing in India and is in discussions with several partners,” the first official said.
As per an industry executive, most of the vendors for iPads and Macs are Chinese players and since companies usually don’t do a joint venture for finished products, getting approvals in India is a problem. In components, however, the joint venture route may be a success.
“Apple has indicated its willingness to make AirPods here. We are already working on a PLI scheme for wearables and Apple can come on board,” said the second official. An industry executive added that it makes sense for Apple to manufacture AirPods in India as currently, enclosures for the hearables are being exported from the country. Jabil, a US contract manufacturer, makes the enclosures at its Pune facility.