In a development that will deepen India’s local value addition in the mobile and electronics manufacturing chain, Apple has asked its suppliers to make batteries for its forthcoming iPhone 16 domestically. This is a part of the company’s plans to shift its global supply chain out of China. 

According to a Financial Times report, Apple has asked its battery manufacturers, like Desay of China, to establish new factories in India. Similarly, Simplo Technology, a Taiwanese battery supplier has been asked to scale up production in India for future orders. 

Earlier this week, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said that TDK, a Japanese supplier for Apple, was setting up a 180-acre facility in Manesar, Haryana, to build batteries for iPhones. 

Companies like Desay and Simplo package electric cells produced by TDK and its counterparts into modules and send them to contract manufacturers like Foxconn, which has a manufacturing base in India. 

Communications and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had recently said that after achieving success in domestic mobile manufacturing, the government was working on a strategy for export-led growth for smartphones and electronics. 

“Today, India has become a part of the global value chain of mobile phones and electronics. Now, we are looking at a strategy of export-led growth rather than simply import substitution and looking at our needs,” Mr Vaishnaw had added.