Apple may lean more on China after fire at Tata’s iPhone component plant in India

A fire at Tata Group’s Apple iPhone component plant in southern India has caused significant damage, potentially disrupting production ahead of the upcoming festive season sales surge. This setback could force Apple’s suppliers to source critical parts from China or other regions.
The weekend fire has led to an indefinite production halt at Tata’s Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu. This plant is the sole Indian supplier of iPhone back panels and certain other components for both contract manufacturer Foxconn and Apple’s own iPhone assembly operations in India.
Munsif Vengattil for Reuters:
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Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research told Reuters it estimates local sales of 1.5 million units of iPhone 14 and 15 models during the Indian festive season which runs from late October to early November, with Apple struggling to fulfil as much as 15% of that demand due to the fire.
“There will be a 10-15% impact on production of older iPhone models from India. Apple could offset that impact by importing more components, and by re-routing more export inventory towards India,” said Neil Shah, a co-founder of Counterpoint, which has for years tracked Apple’s global shipments.
Apart from local sales, Tata, one of India’s biggest conglomerates, also exported iPhones to the Netherlands and United States as well as some parts to China, worth more than $250 million overall, in the year to Aug. 31, commercially available customs data shows.
Apple suppliers typically carry a three- to four-week stock of back panels, Counterpoint said. An industry source with direct knowledge of the matter estimated, however, that Apple was likely to have stock for eight weeks, and therefore would not see an immediate impact.
However, they added that if the production suspension continues, the U.S. company could set up another assembly line in China or add shifts there to secure parts for India’s iPhone manufacturers.

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MacDailyNews Take: As always, it all comes down to logistics.

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