India factory fire may force Apple iPhone orders back to China

Posted:
in iPhone

Tata's iPhone factory in India has now been closed indefinitely after a fire, and Apple may have to turn back to China to avoid a shortfall in production.

Pegatron facility (Source: Pegatron)
Pegatron facility (Source: Pegatron)



The fire at Tata's plant in Tamil Nadu, India -- formerly owned by Pegatron -- started on September 28, 2024, and has been put out. After authorities initially saying that it was "unlikely" that the plant would reopen soon, reports now say that because of extensive damage, the facility is closed indefinitely.

According to Reuters, the factory made iPhone back panels for both Tata itself, and Foxconn. Tata officials have not commented, but Counterpoint Research estimates that there could be a production shortfall by up to 15%.

The estimate is specifically for production of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models. The total shortfall could up to 1.5 million devices.

This comes as India enters its festive season, which runs from October to early November. It is possible, however, that there will be far less impact because an unspecified source says that Apple typically holds eight weeks' worth of back panels in stock.

That would also give Apple some time in which to have its suppliers in China add an extra shift to its existing manufacturing. Chinese firms could also add new production lines to make up for the loss of the Tata factory.

It's not known how the fire started, although it is said to have begun in an area used to store chemicals.

In September 2023, fire closed a Pegatron iPhone factory down for several days. Earlier that year, another fire crippled India's Lightning cable production.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    Maybe India is not the place for iPhone production. There always seemed to be problems. 
    NotSoMuch
  • Reply 2 of 5
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,525member
    India has been producing a fair percentage of all iPhones worldwide for a few years now, that meet Apple’s incredibly high standards. There have indeed been problems from time to time, but nothing compared to China and Taiwan. And that’s before the inevitable war between those latter two disrupts the entire tech industry.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    davendaven Posts: 721member
    What would it take for Apple to run their own factories?
  • Reply 4 of 5
    daven said:
    What would it take for Apple to run their own factories?
    Money which they have a lot….BUT will never do it as it was done from time in memorial…
  • Reply 5 of 5
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,294member
    The saga continues…….
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