iPhone 17 components have started arriving at Foxconn’s plant in Tamil Nadu. It signals Apple’s quiet but serious shift toward next-gen production in India, potentially starting as early as August. 

But as India is stepping into a more central role in Apple’s global supply chain, Foxconn is being forced to pull hundreds of Chinese engineers out of India. These are people who helped set up and run these complex manufacturing lines. The move has raised eyebrows with many interpreting it as Beijing’s geopolitical pushback against Apple’s China-plus-one strategy.

Here’s the twist: what if this squeeze isn’t a setback, but a necessary shock? Could China’s pressure may actually accelerate India’s path to manufacturing independence?

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