Tata Group to Become the Fourth iPhone Manufacturer as Production Relocation Accelerates

[NG Missile Vessels]

Due to geopolitical and pandemic, Apple has been accelerating the diversification of its supply sources, with India being the most well-known case for such transfer. According to TrendForce, India’s Tata Group is expected to become the fourth iPhone assembler for Apple. Following Apple’s pattern, new suppliers receive smaller orders for lower-end models, which means Tata Group will initially get only small orders for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.

The Tata Group has acquired Wistron’s Indian production line, which is India’s largest conglomerate that will assemble the iPhone 15 series. Apple currently has three contract manufacturers in India namely Foxconn, Pegatron, and Luxshare. Foxconn is one of the company’s oldest contract manufacturers

The upcoming iPhone 15 is expected to have Apple’s Bionic A16 chipset, which was introduced last year in the iPhone 14 Pro models. The new strategy is to offer the latest chipset in Pro models, while standard models get a year-old chipset.

The iPhone 15 could also have a 48MP primary camera at the back, which is a major upgrade from the 12MP sensors seen in current iPhone models. However, features such as a telephoto lens or LiDAR for optical zoom may only be available in the Pro models.

Also, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Ku, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature a “periscope lens," a technology that is currently exclusive to high-end smartphones like Samsung, Google, and Huawei, MacRumors reported.

The Periscope lens would be exclusive to the high-end iPhone 15 Pro Max and enable 5-6x optical zoom. The periscope lens is expected to be integrated into the Telephoto lens of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, allowing for up to 6x zoom when capturing photos with the rear camera.

Tata Group to Become the Fourth iPhone Assembler as Production Relocation Accelerates

Due to geopolitical and pandemic, Apple has been accelerating the diversification of its supply sources, with India being the most well-known case for...

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