Apple wants iPhone 16 batteries to be largely made in India, asks suppliers to increase production

HIGHLIGHTS

• iPhone 16 Apple asks its supply partners to set up and scale up production of iPhone 16 batteries in India.
• Some players like Japan’s TDK have already announced their investment in India.
• Let’s see the reason and the potential results of Apple’s growing love for India.
• Apple has reportedly asked its suppliers to prioritise iPhone 16 battery manufacturing in India to reduce its dependence on China. Some manufacturers have been urged to set up factories in India while already established partners have been asked to scale up production. A Japanese supplier has already initiated a 180-acre facility in the state of Haryana in the country. Here’s what’s going on:

·        iPhone 16 battery manufacturing in India

• The Financial Timesreports that Apple wants to diversify its business by moving more iPhone 16 battery manufacturing from China to India.
• It has therefore informed component makers like Desay of China to build a unit in India and Simplo Technology of Taiwan to ramp up production in its Chennai-based factory in India.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar posted on X about the Japanese battery cell maker TDK’s investment plans for India. He revealed it is going to be a 180-crore facility in Manesar, Haryana. These batteries will be used in Made in India iPhones. As he highlighted, this is in large part thanks to PM Modi’s Production Linked Scheme which incentivizes foreign players to make in India. However, Apple also has its business and ideological reasons to move away from China like the cold tech war between the US and China, uncertainties and production troubles during the pandemic, and questionable working conditions of Chinese labour. Anyways, once all the aforementioned three companies are set in India, TDK will be making the electric cells, while Desay and Simplo will package them as batteries and assemblers like Foxconn and Tata will put them inside iPhones. Tata Group recently bought a 100% stake in Wistron’s India unit and Foxconn has also announced a $1.5bn factory in the country.

As Mr Chandrasekhar points out, all these will strengthen the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India and add value in the form of jobs and income too.

Key Specs

Apple iPhone 16

Apple A17 Pro | 6 GBProcessor

6.12 inches (15.54 cm)Display

48 MP + 12 MPRear camera

12 MPSelfie camera

3449 mAhBattery

• iPhone 16 series to get Action Button on all models.
• This will be a new and improved Action Button with more features.
• The iPhone 16 Action Button is expected to be different in design and perhaps in size too.
• iPhone 15 Pro models swapped the Mute Switch for Action Button, a configurable multi-purpose switch. The regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus missed out on the feature. However, if a new rumour is true, then, the vanilla iPhone 16and iPhone 16 Plus will also have the Action Button along with the Pro models. Not just that, this upcoming Action Button would be different in design from the current-gen and allow more functionalities.

·        Apple iPhone 16 with Action Button: What to expect

• As per MacRumours, all iPhone 16 models with feature an Action Button that will be capacitive in nature. The ones on the iPhone 15 Proand iPhone 15 Pro Max are mechanical buttons. This means the new Action Button could function like the Touch ID Home button on older iPhones or the Force Touch Trackpad on newer MacBooks.
• The internal documents reveal the Action Button codename is Atlas and that it will have a force sensor capable of analyzing pressure and “tact-switching functionality”. Also, the documents mention a Capturebutton on the iPhone 16 series that could function similarly to the Action Button.

The details are a little hazy but the company is expected to ship all future iPhones including the iPhone SE 4 with the Action Button. So, Apple seems to be ditching the signature Ring/Silent button in favour of this new button. MacRumours also claim Apple is working on bigger-sized Action Buttons too that look like the iPhone volume rocker.

In time, we should see more renders and leaks regarding this. For now, we can safely assume the Action Button to carry forward the following features: