Right now, iPhones are not being made in these Indian factories

As you read this, some factories in India are not producing iPhones due to extreme weather and heavy rain (via Reuters).

Taiwanese companies Foxconn and Pegatron have halted iPhone production at their factories near Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India's southernmost state and home to more than 70 million people.

Currently, cyclonic storm 'Michaung' is causing extensive damage to local infrastructure and the people of Chennai, with reports of five deaths due to the extreme weather conditions. The report said the runway at one of the country's busiest airports was submerged after torrential rain as the city braced for a severe cyclone expected to hit in the next 24 hours.

Foxconn employs around 35,000 people at its iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu and has not yet decided whether or not to resume production on Tuesday, but that depends on Cyclone Michaung and how things unfold in the coming hours.

Apple's move to India follows the Cupertino giant's efforts to diversify its global production away from China. In 2017, Apple began manufacturing iPhones in India, but for the first few years, only older or budget phones were made in India.

Then came the iPhone 14 and Apple decided to give the green light to Foxconn to start building the new model in India. India is also where the iPhone 15 is manufactured, but at a much higher speed and volume. At the start of 2023, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that around 5% of all iPhones are currently manufactured in India and the company's goal is to increase this to 25%.

Reuters notes that this is the second time in recent months that Pegatron has been forced to close its factory. In September, assembly of iPhones was temporarily halted after a fire.