After iPhone, AirPods may be the next product that Apple makes in India. The groundwork, it seems, has already been laid. Bloomberg is reporting that a popular Apple supplier has started shipping made in India plastic enclosures for AirPods to China and Vietnam, where –presumably— the rest of the product is being made. It isn’t immediately clear if this is being done for the AirPods or AirPods Pro also.

US-based manufacturing company Jabil Inc is reportedly shipping AirPods enclosures made at its Pune facility to China and Vietnam. It’s only a matter of component manufacturing at this point, but it could pave way for something more impactful down the line even as Cupertino looks to increasingly reduce its reliance on China as a major manufacturing hub.

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As we noted before, Apple already makes the iPhone in India. The list includes its very latest iPhone 14 as well. Foxconn is its major manufacturing partner for the iPhone. The move to make the iPhone locally is in direct response to the Indian government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme that has given shot in the arm to domestic manufacturing and assembly of smartphones in the country. Apple may also have rushed to make the iPhone 14 in India owning to inventory concerns raised from strict COVID restrictions in China.

It was long speculated that Apple might make the iPad next in India. But apparently, the AirPods have beaten the iPad to the punch if the Bloomberg report is anything to go by.