China-made iPhone components call to Apple after Indian fire disrupts supply chain
The blaze halted production at Tata Group’s iPhone component plant, forcing Apple to consider sourcing parts from China to meet demand
The weekend blaze has caused an indefinite production halt at Tata’s Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu, the only Indian supplier of iPhone back panels and some other parts for both contract manufacturer Foxconn in the country and its own iPhone assembly at another plant.
Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research said 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, and said Apple is struggling to fulfil all of that demand due to the fire.
“There will be a 10 to 15 per cent 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.
Tata declined to comment.