Ahead of Sept 19 launch, Foxconn starts iPhone 17 production at Bengaluru unit

Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn has commenced operation at the Bengaluru factory with the production of iPhone 17 at a small scale, said sources aware of the development.

Foxconn — the largest manufacturer of iPhones — is setting up its second-biggest facility outside China in Devanahalli near Bengaluru with an investment of about Rs 25,000 crore.

“Foxconn’s Bengaluru unit has commenced operation with the production of iPhone 17. This is in addition to the production of iPhone 17 at its Chennai unit,” one of the sources said.

An email query sent to Apple and Foxconn elicited no reply on the development.

The production had faced a brief interruption after hundreds of Chinese engineers went back abruptly. However, Foxconn has been able to get experts from various destinations, including Taiwan, to address the gap.

According to multiple sources, Apple plans to increase iPhone production to 60 million units this year from about 35-40 million units in 2024-25.

Apple assembled 60 per cent more iPhones, worth an estimated USD 22 billion, in India in the year ended March 31, 2025.

The company’s CEO Tim Cook, after the financial result announcement on July 31, said the majority of the iPhones sold in the US in June 2025 originated from India.

Cook, during the second-quarter earnings call, had announced that all iPhones sold in the US in the June quarter will be shipped from India.

According to an analysis by S&P Global, iPhone sales in the US were 75.9 million units in 2024, with March exports from India at 3.1 million units, suggesting a need to double shipments either through new capacity or redirecting shipments bound for the domestic market.

Apple’s supplies within India grew by 21.5 per cent annually to 5.9 million units in the first half of 2025, with iPhone 16 being the highest-shipped model across the country during the period.

During the second quarter, Apple's iPhone supplies in India grew 19.7 per cent year-on-year in the June 2025 quarter, clocking 7.5 per cent market share in the country's smartphone market.