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Foxconn India has begun early testing of manufacturing for the iPhone 17, ahead of mass production starting in time for a September launch.
As early as October 2024, it was reported that iPhone 17 models were being developed and tested by Foxconn in India. Now, however, according to The Economic Times of India, the company began importing iPhone 17 components from China in June for the start of full trial production.
Based on customs records, the publication says that the components include the iPhone 17 display assembly, cover glass, integrated rear camera modules, and the device’s mechanical housing. Components for the iPhone 17 made up approximately 10% of Foxconn’s orders from China in June.
The other 90% of components were for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 16. Apple is expected to sell these models in high numbers during August 2025, as that month sees the start of India’s major festive season.
It’s Foxconn’s ordering of quite small numbers of components for the iPhone 17, that suggests the company is testing out its manufacturing. Unspecified sources said that Foxconn began receiving the components in June, with trial production taking place in July.
Then mass production is expected to begin in August. Apple is due to launch the new iPhone range in September, with the latest reports saying it will be during the week beginning September 8, 2025.
In June 2025, it was reported that Foxconn was looking to open a factory in Oragadam, Tamil Nadu, specifically for production of iPhone enclosures or chassis. This follows Foxconn’s opening of a $2.6 billion plant in Bengaluru, in India’s Karnataka state, which sources said in April would be used for production of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16e.
This does all also follow, though, Foxconn ordering its Chinese workers to leave India because of China imposing stronger rules on curbing exports of technology or its skilled workforce. That in turn is due to the ongoing trade tensions between China and US over Trump’s constantly changing “reciprocal” tariffs.
