Apple has brought in the Tata Group to handle repairs for iPhones and MacBook devices in its fast-growing Indian market, signalling the Indian conglomerate’s deepening role in the US tech giant’s supply chain, two people familiar with the matter said.
As Apple looks beyond China for manufacturing, Tata has fast emerged as its key supplier, already assembling iPhones for local and foreign markets at three facilities in southern India, with one of them also making some iPhone components.
In its latest partnership expansion, Tata is taking over the mandate from an Indian unit of Taiwan’s Wistron, ICT Service Management Solutions, and will carry out such after-sales repairs from its Karnataka iPhone assembly campus, both sources said.
The market for repairs is only going to boom in India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, as iPhone sales skyrocket. Counterpoint Research estimates around 11 million iPhones were sold in India last year, giving Apple a 7 per cent market share, compared to just 1 per cent in 2020.
The latest contract award signals Apple’s growing confidence on Tata as it hopes to win more business from the world’s most valuable smartphone company.
