Who Is Sabih Khan? All About Apple’s New Indian-Origin COO From UP’s Moradabad | World News

New Delhi: Sabih Khan was 10 years old when his family left Moradabad for Uttar Pradesh in 1976 for Singapore. He was only another bright -eyed Indian boy and landed in a city that exploded with ambition. Then he barely spoke English. Now, about twenty years later, the same child lives on one of the most powerful technology empires in the world – Apple Inc.

The announcement confused the meeting rooms. Khan’s height is seen as a sign of tectonic changes in Apple, especially in India. The man who once walked the streets of Moradabad in Western Uttar Pradesh now runs the supply chain of a company that shaped global consumer behavior. And he does this at a time when his predecessor Jeff Williams is preparing for retirement, and faces the increasing pressure on where and how he does Apple’s iPhones.

Born in 1966, Khan’s journey began away from the Silicon Valley. After spent his early childhood in India, his family moved to Singapore, where he completed his early education. Later, he continued his university studies in the United States and won mechanical engineering and economic degrees from Tufts University. He followed this with a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Renssleer Polytechnic Institute.

Khan started his apple journey in 1995. He joined the supply group and passed the ranks. Until 2019, he became Apple’s Operations Senior Vice President and led the company’s large production and logistics engine – from component supply to product presentation.

He also pioneered Apple’s supplier responsibility program, focusing on ethical labor and workers’ education in production areas around the world.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, said to him, “Apple’s global supply chain is one of the chief architects,” he said. “Sabih Khan helped to advance new production technologies and led our expansion in the United States, while Apple remained resistant to global challenges,” he said.

He continued to praise Khan’s environmental leadership and said, “He helped to direct our ambitious environmental sustainability program, cut Apple’s carbon footprint by 60 percent. Most importantly, Sabih leads the heart and gives life according to his values.”

Jeff Williams, the outgoing coo, applauded Khan. Im I have worked with him for 27 years. I believe he is the most talented operation manager on this planet. There is no doubt that Apple is bright under the leadership of his future, ”he said.

Before joining Apple, Khan worked as an application development engineer and account technical leader at GE Plastics. There, he helped design customized plastic products in cooperation with customers.

However, beyond the meeting room, praise lies a much deeper sub -text. Khan’s appointment comes in the midst of Apple’s increasing change towards India.

In 2017, Apple began to assemble iPhones in India. Only last year, Apple produced $ 22 billion in India – 60 percent jump compared to the previous year. In the 2024-25 financial period, the company exported this device at a value of 17.4 billion dollars.

This month, Apple confirmed that it has removed important parts of its production from China.

Tim Cook, investors during a call to investors, “Most iPhone sold in the United States are waiting in India,” he said. He also said that products such as iPads and Apple Watches will be increasingly made in Vietnam.

Currently, 20 percent of all iPhones sold globally are held in India. Apple plans to increase this figure in the coming years – a strategic reorganization that many of them see as a geopolitical response and a business fence.

The timing of Khan’s height sends a message not only in Apple, but also globally. Recently, US President Donald Trump Cook warned that Apple would encounter heavy tariffs if Apple continues to produce iPhones outside the United States, especially in India. This warning came with political heat, but Apple did not blink. Instead, he doubled the Indian strategy and an engineer born in Moradabad introduced to one of the most powerful tasks in the company.

Many messages are open. Apple is not withdrawn. And now in the cockpit of global operations, the company seems more determined than ever to bet on India and its people.