Apple to start making AirPods in India from next year, focus on exports: Report

Apple plans to start manufacturing AirPods in Foxconn's new Telangana unit and casings for the hearables at American contract manufacturer Jabil's Pune factory

Apple has finalised plans to manufacture AirPods in India from next year onwards, according to a Times of India report, which added that a large portion of the manufacturing focus would be towards exports. HT couldn't independently verify the information.

The new Apple Airpods 4 on display upon release on September 20, 2024 at the Apple Store at The Grove in Los Angeles, California. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP)

The casing for the product will be manufactured by American contract manufacturer Jabil at their Pune factory and the AirPods themselves will be manufactured by a new unit of Foxconn in Telangana, according to the report, which cited unnamed sources.

Apple plans to ramp up AirPods production to a few billion dollars very quickly despite the lack of a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for hearables in contrast to smartphones, the report read.

The focus on exports of the to-be produced AirPods, along with the ramped up iPhone production is to create a second large manufacturing base outside China for Apple, particularly as many of its important vendors have set up base here and state overnments have also pitched incentives.

In India, Apple has ramped up iPhone production rapidly and has also started manufacturing the iPhone Pro series models from this year through contract manufacturers including the Taiwanese Foxconn and Pegatron, as well as the Tata group, who took over operations of Wistron.

However, Apple does not have immediate plans for manufacturin MacBooks in India as global production levels are currently sufficient to meet demand and demand in India is still limited, according to the report.