In an effort to move some production away from China, Apple announced on Monday that it is assembling its flagship iPhone 14 in India.

“The new iPhone 14 lineup introduces groundbreaking new technologies and important safety capabilities. We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India,” the company said in a statement.

The devices are being produced at Foxconn, Apple’s primary iPhone assembler Sriperumbudur,’s factory outside of Chennai. Since 2017, the Cupertino, California-based company has been producing iPhones in India, though typically they were older models. Close to the device’s launch, Apple is this time producing the iPhone 14 in India for the first time. This month, Apple unveiled the iPhone 14.

Apple will sell phones made in India both domestically and internationally. In the coming days, customers in India will start receiving the products made locally.

In a note published this month, analysts at JPMorgan predicted that by the end of 2022, Apple will shift 5% of its worldwide production of the iPhone 14 to India. According to JPMorgan, Apple may produce 25% of all iPhones in India by 2025.

Apple’s emphasis on manufacturing in India demonstrates the tech giant’s desire to diversify production away from China and grow its customer base in India, which is presently a small market for the business.

Apple is gaining ground in India. India is one of the more than 20 nations around the world where the premiumization trend has only recently begun.

Apple continues to produce the majority of its iPhones primarily in China.

Even as the majority of the world works to open its societies, Beijing has continued to use a strategy of lockdowns to quell Covid resurgences. Production has been halted at factories across China due to lockdowns caused by the zero-Covid policy, and some potential weak links in Apple’s supply chain have been highlighted.

India has tried to increase domestic electronic manufacturing through incentives.

In the meantime, Apple has been attempting to boost sales in India, the second-largest smartphone market in the world. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple only held a 3.8 per cent market share in India last year as cheaper rivals like Samsung and China’s Xiaomi continued to rule.

In the second quarter of this year, Apple, which sells phones costing more than 45,000 Indian rupees ($552), was the most popular brand. That’s due to the successful sales of its iPhone 13 models from the previous generation.

The price of the iPhone 14 is 79,900 rupees ($980).

“Apple has a strong momentum in India. India is among the 20+ countries in the world where the premiumization trend has just started,” Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, said.

(Adapted from TechCrunch.com)