Rumor: Apple and Google are more likely to assemble smartphones outside of China

Apple and Google would increasingly have their smartphones assembled outside of China. Where the production of smartphones and small electronics was almost exclusively in China a few years ago, part of the production has been moved to India and Vietnam.

A small part of the iPhone 14 production will take place in India, reports The New York Times. Foxconn has a factory there in the city of Sriperumbudur and it has also been making copies of the iPhone 13 since this spring. Apple has been using the factory in India since 2017, when it started production of the SE there. It would be the first time that a new iPhone is made in India from its release.

Google would have part of the production of the upcoming Pixel 7 phones in Vietnam. That company needs to produce far fewer Pixel phones than Apple iPhones, which will probably make moving a larger part of the production easier.

Neither company has confirmed the move. According to the newspaper, manufacturers are eager to relocate production to other countries due to the diminished attractiveness of China as a place for production. For example, there have been trade disputes between the US and China for years, making the relationship between the two countries tense. China also has a zero-covid policy, which means that a relatively low number of infections already leads to strict lockdowns. These can then influence production again.

Due to the lack of comment from both companies, it is unknown whether the aim is to eventually relocate all production to countries other than China. The Chinese government already said last month that factory activities in the country are declining, the newspaper writes.

Foxconn India