Apple looking at expanding AirPods manufacture to India to help avoid tariffs

Apple is continuing to find a way to work around impending tariffs on imports from China, with AirPods said to be the latest product to benefit from India assembly.

Foxconn has been Apple's assembly partner for years, and a new report claims that its India division will start picking up AirPods assembly orders. Beyond leveraging the existing workforce in India, the move will help Apple keep the toll down from tariffs that are expected to be placed on imports from China early in 2025.

The effort is said to start in the first quarter of 2025, but it's not clear what models will be assembled in the country.

The report published by Bloomberg on Friday morning says that the assembly will happen in a new factory near Hyderabad. Trial manufacture is said to be underway already, with manufacturing accelerating assuming quality checks are passed.

To date, Apple has manufactured AirPods in China, and Vietnam, with the plastic bodies being manufactured in India and exported to China for assembly. India is a logical expansion for full AirPods manufacture, given how well efforts to assemble the iPhone in the country have gone.

In April 2024, about 14% of all iPhones globally came from India. Officials in the country claim that Apple wants to make 25% of iPhones in India by 2028 — but this timetable may accelerate in the wake of the Trump administration's threat to apply heavy tariffs to companies importing goods from China.

So, the expansion of its AirPods supply chain in India is far from a sudden or surprising move. Apple and other technology firms have been working to lessen their reliance on China for many years.

As a result, by January 2024, Apple suppliers had spent $16 billion in their move away from China. While countries such as Vietnam have benefited, the expansion in India has made Apple the fastest-growing firm in that country for the last 50 years.

As well as the expected escalation in US/China tensions, Apple is said to be working with Indian companies because of rewarding incentives provided by the Modi administration.

It's hasn't all been smooth, however, with economic tensions building between India and China. This saw India denying Chinese firms permission to establish facilities in the country, including iPad manufacturer BYD.

Apple has also had to deal with a factory fire in October 2024, as well as on-again off-again antitrust accusations.

New AirPods Pro are expected at some point in 2025. Fourth-generation AirPods were released alongside the iPhone 16 in September 2024.