Not many iPhone 16 rumors have touched on the battery that will power next year’s Apple handsets. But a new report about where Apple is hoping to get its phone batteries from suggest that the company is taking steps to reduce the shortages that have marked recent iPhone launches.
According to a report in the Financial Times, Apple is hoping to expand its manufacturing in India as it continues to reduce its reliance on China. The tech giant has asked some of its battery suppliers, including China-based Desay and Taiwanese manufacturer Simplo Technology, to consider moving its iPhone battery production to India.
Apple has long relied heavily on China for its iPhone manufacturing needs. But in recent years, the company has worked to expand its manufacturing to other countries, including Taiwan, Vietnam, and India. That is in part due to Apple’s concern over U.S.-China relations and how it could negatively impact its business. Apple has also discovered that some of its manufacturing partners in India can address supply shortages and inventory shortfall woes created in part by relying almost exclusively on Chinese manufacturers.
Apple already has a strong manufacturing relationship with India, and several of its partners, including Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata, already manufacture iPhones in India. Moving all iPhone 16 battery production to the country would be a significant step and a clearer sign that Apple wants to move as much of its production out of China as possible — and fast.
The only thing that happens with greater regularity than Apple launching its phones every fall is the inevitable shortages of phones after the initial flurry of orders. Within the first few weeks of the iPhone 15 launch, for instance, both the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were seeing significant shipping delays, as Apple tried to keep up with the demand for its more feature-packed phones. (As of this writing, both iPhone 15 Pro models are shipping immediately.)
But moving iPhone 16 battery production to India by the time the handset lineup launches next fall may be difficult. And Apple is undoubtedly hoping to avoid some of the problems iPhone 15 batteries faced this year when they were overheating due to a software bug the company ultimately patched in an iOS 17 update. Apple is reportedly taking hardware-focused steps to avoid overheating in the iPhone 16 by using a frosted metal shell and new connector in the handset’s batteries, according to a recent report.
The iPhone 16 lineup could also ship with a slightly larger battery capacity (3355mAh capacity compared to the iPhone 15’s 3274mAh cell). That could pave the way for longer battery life in next year’s iPhones, though exactly how much more life users can expect is unknown.
Not surprisingly, Apple hasn’t commented on any of the rumors surrounding the iPhone 16, let alone the handset’s battery. But with several months left before the smartphone premieres, look for many more iPhone 16 battery rumors to surface.
