iPhone 15 local assembly begins as launch nears

Production of the iPhone 15, which is likely to be unveiled next month, has started at the factory of Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn near Chennai, two people familiar with the development said, the first time an Apple smartphone is being assembled in India before its international launch.

- Gulveen Aulakh & Shouvik Das

Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, is assembling these devices at its Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu, even as it expands its local manufacturing operations beyond smartphones.

"One of the units of Foxconn has started making the latest model. The assembly of phones will have limited employability potential, and therefore, we would want them to look at value addition and bring in component manufacturing as well as R&D to the state," a government official said on condition of anonymity.

Bloomberg reported the news earlier in the day. Queries sent to Apple Inc. and Foxconn remained unanswered.

The iPhone 15 is expected to be unveiled on 12 September, when Apple holds its annual launch event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California.