Pegatron facility (Source: Pegatron)
Tata’s iPhone factory in India has now been closed indefinitely after a fire, and Apple may have to turn back to China to avoid a shortfall in production.
The fire at Tata’s plant in Tamil Nadu, India — formerly owned by Pegatron — started on September 28, 2024, and has been put out. After authorities initially saying that it was “unlikely” that the plant would reopen soon, reports now say that because of extensive damage, the facility is closed indefinitely.
According to Reuters, the factory made iPhone back panels for both Tata itself, and Foxconn. Tata officials have not commented, but Counterpoint Research estimates that there could be a production shortfall by up to 15%.
The estimate is specifically for production of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models. The total shortfall could up to 1.5 million devices.
This comes as India enters its festive season, which runs from October to early November. It is possible, however, that there will be far less impact because an unspecified source says that Apple typically holds eight weeks’ worth of back panels in stock.
That would also give Apple some time in which to have its suppliers in China add an extra shift to its existing manufacturing. Chinese firms could also add new production lines to make up for the loss of the Tata factory.
It’s not known how the fire started, although it is said to have begun in an area used to store chemicals.
In September 2023, fire closed a Pegatron iPhone factory down for several days. Earlier that year, another fire crippled India’s Lightning cable production.
