Apple has officially started producing its flagship Apple iPhone 11 at the Foxconn plant near Chennai in India. While iPhones have been made in India before, this is the first time when a flagship model has been locally assembled in the country. The move will help Apple by reducing the costs of import and hence the final cost of the phones. Further, with the government’s Make-in-India initiative, this also helps create more employment opportunities in India.
Production will be gradually stepped up at the plant in stages. Once enough units are being assembled at the Foxconn plant, Apple might even consider exporting units assembled here to other countries. As per a report by Economic Times, industry experts have suggested that US-based Apple may use this as a way to reduce dependency on China.
While the Apple iPhone 11 prices in the country have not been cut down yet, it could be on the cards for the brand. For now, Apple is also selling units that were assembled in China hence prices are expected to be the same for a while. Once assembly in India picks up pace, Apple will save on 22 percent import duty.
In other news, Apple is also considering producing the Apple iPhone SE 2020 in the Wistron plant near Bengaluru, Karnataka. This same plant once produced the older iPhone SE, which has now been withdrawn by the brand.
APPLE TO ALSO GAIN FROM UPCOMING PEGATRON PLANT
Apple’s assembly partner Pegatron Corp is also gearing up to set its first production plant in India. Pegatron is now setting up a local subsidiary and joining other Taiwanese electronics assemblers Foxconn and Wistron. The Taiwanese company is the second-largest assembler of Apple iPhones, in fact depending on the company for over half its business. After a number of factories set up in neighboring country China, India is the next big target for Pegatron. This hardly comes as a surprise after the intensifying of the ongoing US-China trade war, which might hurt brands like US-based Apple which get caught in the crossfire.