Apple has finalised plans to start producing AirPods, with a massive focus on exports.

The company will start making the casing for the product at the Pune factory of American contract manufacturer Jabil, and thereafter the AirPods will be manufactured at a new unit of Foxconn in Telangana, according to a report in TOI.

"It will be a mega operation, on the lines of the work done for iPhones, and will be focused mainly on global exports, considering that the market for AirPods is much bigger abroad than in India," the sources said.

A questionnaire sent to Apple as well as Foxconn was not answered.

The AirPods production comes to India even in the absence of a production- linked incentive (PLI) scheme for hearables, something which is there for those making smartphones.
Apple, which began manufacturing iPhones in India in 2021, is estimated to have exported around $14 billion of its smartphone production in FY24. This constituted 14% of the iPhone's global production.

The company is ramping up the iPhone production rapidly and has also started manufacturing the coveted Pro series of models from this year through its list of contract manufacturers -- Taiwanese Foxconn and Pegatron, and the local Tata group (who had taken over the operations of Wistron).

The AirPods will be manufactured from next year, and will also be sold in India, the sources said, adding that Apple plans to ramp up the production "to a few billion dollars very rapidly."