Apple can reportedly survive a China ban as Foxconn shifts to India

Apple’s iPhones are the most valuable parts of its business, dwarfing revenue from that of its MacBooks and iPads. The firm moved much of its production to China in previous years and has embraced the company as another of its largest sources of revenue due to its nature as a status symbol. However, the USA’s ban on US firms doing business with Huawei has left the Chinese tech firm reeling, and China seething. The country has summoned US companies to warn them about honouring the USA’s ban and warned of dire consequences. Analysts have also predicted that Apple leaves itself open as a valuable target.

A ban on Apple iPhones being made in China could hit the firm’s bottom line, but Apple’s main manufacturing partner, Foxconn, has revealed it has enough capacity to produce US-bound iPhones outside of China.

“Twenty-five per cent of our production capacity is outside of China and we can help Apple respond to its needs in the U.S. market,” said Foxconn’s semiconductor division chief Young Liu on Tuesday as reported by Bloomberg, “We have enough capacity to meet Apple’s demand.”

The firm has done work to make it easy to move its manufacturing to India swiftly in case of heavy restrictions being placed on Apple as a result of the escalating trade war. At least this way, Apple’s iPhone business will remain somewhat insulated in the long-term.