Apple wants battery suppliers to move production to India

As its latest step in cutting its reliance on China, Apple has reportedly asked its battery suppliers to scale up production in India, in time for manufacturing of the iPhone 16.

Despite Apple's plans to expand overall production in India having been hampered, it is still pressing ahead with its moves away from China in order to no longer be so dependent on a single source. According to the Financial Times, the plans now extend to encouraging battery suppliers to make the same move.

Citing three unspecified sources said to be familiar with the plans, the publication reports that some manufacturers including Desay of China, have specifically been encourage to establish new factories in India. Another supplier, Taiwanese firm Simplo Technology, has been asked to scale up its current production facilities in the country.

"If all goes well with iPhone 16 battery supply, Apple plans to move more iPhone battery production to India," said one source.

At the same time, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's minister of state for electronics and IT, says that Japan's TDK battery supplier is to build a new factory in the country. The firm has announced a 180-acre facility in Manesar, in the state of Haryana, in southern India.

Another big win for PM @narendramodi ji's visionary PLI scheme in shifting the mobile manufacturing ecosystem to India.

TDK, a leading supplier of cells to Apple, is setting up a 180-acre facility in Manesar, Haryana to build cells for batteries which will be used in the pic.twitter.com/hyJAf6yeqO
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar (@Rajeev_GoI) December 4, 2023

It's specifically to produce battery cells for use in iPhones made in India. Chandrasekhar said that this was all part of the government's "goal of deepening [the] electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India."

As well as avoiding over-reliance on a single source, Apple's intention to move away from China to countries such as India comes in part from continuing US/China trade tensions.