[뉴스토마토 조재훈 기자] Apple was hit directly by the ‘China risk’ caused by the reproduction of Corona 19. This disruption in the iPhone supply chain is expected to continue into the first quarter of this year. As a result, Apple appears to be accelerating its “south-China” strategy by diversifying its production centers to India and Vietnam.
According to market researcher TrendForce on the 29th, iPhone shipments (including all current models) in the first quarter of 2023 are expected to fall 22% year-on-year to 47 million units. The forecast for total shipments in 2022 was also revised down to 78.1 million units.
Apple has been completely entrusting the assembly of iPhone Pro models to the Zhengzhou Foxconn factory. However, at the end of October last year, as the number of confirmed corona19 cases in Zhengzhou increased, the operating rate of the Zhengzhou Foxconn factory dropped to 70%.
In December 2017, Apple CEO Tim Cook (CEO) visited the Luxshare Precision Industry production line and viewed the product process. (Photo = Luxshare Precision Industries)
Apple has set a policy to overcome this crisis through contracts with other global EMS companies (Foreign Shipment Manufacturing) apart from Foxconn. One of them is Luxshare Precision Industry.
TrendForce said, “The escalating trade dispute between the United States and China has forced Apple to rely on production centers outside of China to meet sales demand in the North American market. It predicts that,” he predicted.
India and Vietnam are representative countries that will replace China. Apple plans to double its production capacity in India next year. It is known that the Vietnam factory has also started operating an iPhone production line.
Experts predict that at least 30 to 35 percent of iPhone device production capacity will be moved to India and Vietnam amid the escalating trade dispute between China and the United States. In particular, with the introduction of 5G from this year, India is rapidly spreading smartphones, which is advantageous in the local domestic market. In the Southeast Asian market, including Vietnam, the premium phone market is expanding rapidly as shipments of smartphones costing more than $700 increased by 42% compared to the previous year.
Lee Mi-hye, a senior researcher at the Export Bank of Korea’s foreign economic research institute, said, “Apple is pursuing the diversification of shipment manufacturers and expanding production volume in India to prevent production disruptions due to the re-proliferation of Corona 19 in China.” he made a diagnosis.
Correspondent Cho Jae-hoon cjh1251@etomato.com
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