Amber Enterprises is set to commence commercial smartphone production in India through a partnership with Oppo Mobiles, aiming to produce up to 16 million units annually and diversify beyond consumer durables into a larger handset market.
Amber Enterprises is preparing to enter commercial smartphone manufacturing in India, a move that would take the company beyond consumer durables and electronics components into a far larger handset market. The plan is to begin trial production in the final quarter of FY27, with full commercial output targeted for the first quarter of FY28. In its first year, the company expects to make about 8 million smartphones, with output rising to 15 million to 16 million units in the second year, according to multiple reports.
The manufacturing tie-up is with Oppo Mobiles India, which is the licensed producer for Oppo, OnePlus and Realme devices in India. Reports from Business Standard and The Economic Times said the arrangement combines Oppo’s product expertise with Amber’s manufacturing scale, domestic supply-chain network and efforts to raise local value addition. Amber’s chairman and chief executive, Jasbir Singh, has said the company is preparing to launch the new business, and the mobile division has already appointed a chief operating officer.
The timing is significant for Amber, which is looking for a new growth engine as parts of its existing business face margin pressure. According to market reports, rising copper-clad laminate costs are weighing on profitability in its bare printed circuit board segment, driven by tighter supply and stronger demand from AI and data-centre applications. The company plans to build its own copper-clad laminate facility by 2029-30 to reduce that strain.
The smartphone venture also places Amber into a highly competitive but structurally important segment of Indian electronics manufacturing. ICICI Direct noted that Oppo, OnePlus and Realme together ship more than 30 million smartphones a year in India, while smartphone EMS remains a low-margin business. Even so, the sector offers high asset turns and a route to scale, which is why analysts see the partnership as a meaningful diversification play despite the pressure it may place on Amber’s blended margins over time.
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