Apple has reportedly chosen Luxshare as an additional manufacturer for the iPhone 15 Pro Max in an effort to diversify its supply chain and reduce its reliance on Foxconn.
Foxconn has traditionally served as the primary manufacturer for iPhone Pro models, but production at its Zhengzhou facility has been slowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, shipments of the iPhone 14 have fallen to 78.1 million units in 2022, according to Trendforce.
Luxshare, which already assembles AirPods for Apple and won a contract in 2021 to build a portion of iPhone 13 models, has built a “mega-plant” in China for iPhone assembly and leased and renovated a nearby plant previously owned by iPad assembler Compal.
While this move will not immediately aid in Apple’s efforts to move production of its devices outside of China, the company is reportedly planning to move some MacBook Pro production to Vietnam in 2023, following the shift of a portion of iPad manufacturing to the country in 2021.
India has also begun producing iPhones for Apple, starting with the iPhone 11 in 2020 and the iPhone 12 in 2021, followed by the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 in 2022.
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