Apple is allocating product growth sources for iPad to Vietnam, Nikkei reported on Friday, citing sources briefed on the matter.
Apple is working with China’s BYD, a key iPad assembler, to transfer new product introduction (NPI) sources to Vietnam, the report stated, including that that is the primary time the corporate has shifted NPI sources to Vietnam for such a core system.
Engineering verification for take a look at manufacturing of an iPad mannequin will begin round mid-February and the mannequin will likely be obtainable within the second half of subsequent yr, it stated.
Apple and BYD didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ request for remark.
Apple suppliers together with Luxshare and Foxconn additionally invested within the Southeast Asian nation earlier this yr to additional diversify manufacturing away from China.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Japanese digital elements maker TDK Corp will manufacture lithium ion (li-ion) battery cells for Apple iPhone fashions in India.
Apple has been touting India as its subsequent large progress driver because it appears to be like to transfer some manufacturing away from China.
It started assembling iPhone fashions within the nation in 2017 by means of Wistron and later Foxconn, and has a complete of 14 suppliers in India.
TDK will arrange a producing facility within the northern state of Haryana, creating a number of thousand new jobs, Deputy Minister for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated on social media platform X, previously often called Twitter.
Last month, Chinese e-commerce platforms together with PDD Holdings’ Pinduoduo and Alibaba’s Taobao supplied deep reductions on Apple’s newest iPhone 15 collection, with some promoting fashions up to CNY 900 ($123 or roughly Rs. 10,229) beneath the retail worth.
Analysts say the iPhone 15 has not been promoting as nicely in China as its predecessor. Counterpoint Research stated that iPhone 15 gross sales in China had been down 4.5 p.c versus the iPhone 14 within the first 17 days after its market launch.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
