New Delhi, Sep 26 : In a fillip to India's thrust on local manufacturing, Apple on Monday confirmed it has kicked off the production of new iPhone 14 in India, a first for the tech giant as it narrows down the manufacturing period of new iPhones in India, along with China which is its key global manufacturing hub. The locally-assembled iPhone 14 will go on sale in the country in the fourth quarter, as the company bolsters its local manufacturing/assembling plans by spending billions of dollars. "The new iPhone 14 lineup introduces groundbreaking new technologies and important safety capabilities. We're excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India," Apple told IANS in a statement. Foxconn is assembling the new iPhone 14 at its Sriperumbudur facility near Chennai. At this pace, industry analysts predict that next year, Apple might manufacture iPhone 15 in India at the same time in China. The tech giant first started manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017 with iPhone SE. Apple manufactures some of its most advanced iPhones in the country, including iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone 13, at the Foxconn facility, while iPhone SE and iPhone 12 are being assembled at the Wistron factory in the country. As India doubles down on local manufacturing of technology products, Apple is likely to move 5 per cent of its new iPhone 14 production to India by the end of this year, and 25 per cent by 2025, according to a JP Morgan analysis. "India's iPhone supply chain has historically supplied only legacy models. Interestingly, Apple has requested that EMS vendors manufacture iPhone 14/14 Plus models in India in 4Q22, within two to three months of the start of production in Mainland China," according to the JP Morgan report. "The much shorter interval implies the increasing importance of India production and likely higher iPhone allocations to India manufacturing in the future," the report noted. Buoyed by the ease-of-doing business and friendly local manufacturing policies, Apple's 'Make in India' iPhones will potentially account for close to 85 per cent of its total iPhone production for the country this year. With the iPhone 14 series, Apple's iPhone production in India is slated to jump from 7 million iPhones in 2021 to touch a new milestone of around 12 million iPhones in 2022, marking a significant growth of more than 71 per cent (year-on-year), according to CMR. /IANS