iPhone 16e production leaves China for Brazil
Apple is now making its new iPhone 16e model in Brazil as part of its plan to depend less on China for its products.
Apple has been building iPhones in Brazil for some time, but mostly older or cheaper models.
Now, it is making one of its latest models there too.
The news came after a Brazilian tech blog, MacMagazine, received a photo showing an iPhone 16e box with a label saying it was made in Brazil.
Brazil’s national agency, Anatel, also confirmed the production started right from the iPhone 16e’s launch.
The iPhone 16e boxes made in Brazil have a code ending in "BR/A", which is different from the other iPhone 16 models ending in "BE/A".
Apple’s official Brazil website shows this too.
Apple has been slowly moving some of its work away from China for a few years now. The company faced problems when COVID-19 lockdowns in China delayed the iPhone 14 launch.
A workers’ strike at one of its biggest factories also worsened matters. These issues pushed Apple to look for other countries like India and Brazil to build its products.
India, for example, is now helping Apple with early work on the iPhone 17 base model. Indian workers are helping to turn Apple's designs into products that can be mass-produced, a job that China used to handle before.
Even though Brazil has been part of Apple’s plan for a while, the Foxconn factory there has not gotten much bigger over the last ten years.
