Apple has been waiting for a long time to start iPhone manufacturing in India, and looks like the big occasion has finally arrived!
Apple Will Start iPhone Manufacturing in India with iPhone SE!
The Economic Times, on Friday, announced the big news on their website.
Apple has reportedly decided to go ahead with the production of iPhones in the country without waiting for the Government’s response on tax exemptions. As we’d reported earlier, Apple had put forward a list of demands to the government of India, the main request in which was an exception from local sourcing law and an exemption from import taxes.
The government’s response seemed likely to take a long time and in the meantime, Tim Cook and Co. have decided to start launch off their plans for iPhone manufacturing in India,
However, Apple will certainly follow up with the government regarding the demands they had put forward.
The decision to start off with iPhone SE is very strategic as it will give Apple the much needed breakthrough into the mid-range smartphone market: A segment that constitutes more than three-fourths the total smartphone demand in India. The natural lowering of price that will be seen in the phone due to local manufacturing is sure to put it right in the middle of a huge battle that’s being waged to capture that market sector.
“Selling for ₹28,000-30,000 on e-commerce portals, the iPhone SE is among the smaller and cheaper devices in Apple’s stable and the company is likely to observe how fast they sell as a way to test waters in the Indian market. Locally assembled models will bring down the phone’s price considerably. Smartphones such as OnePlus 3 and Moto Z Play, which are priced in the same range, did extremely well in the Indian market last year.”
The government, meanwhile, is also looking forward to iPhone manufacturing in India really taking off. Speaking on the terms of anonymity, a senior government official told ET —
“It is Apple’s first such venture in India… The demands they have made are for the larger plans of the company to really scale up manufacturing in India.”
Of course, we are more than happy that Apple has take this first great step towards manufacturing iPhones in India. We hope this expands into other iPhone models soon, and eventually becomes a full fledged unit capable of manufacturing the entire range of Apple products!