Apple’s top-end iPhone series will be assembled in India in 2019: Report

Apple’s top-end iPhone series will be assembled in India in 2019: Report

Will Apple iPhones be made in India from 2019? In Foxconn the most expensive model, such as the flagship will assemble the device in the iPhone X family

Apple Inc. has started assembling its top-end iPhones in India through Foxconn's local unit in the beginning of 2019, for the first time Taiwan's contract manufacturing company will have made a product in the country, a formula familiar with the matter. according.

Importantly, Foxconn  the most expensive model, such as the flagship will assemble the device in the iPhone X family, the source said, possibly taking Apple's business to India at a new level.

This source will be at Foxconn plant in Sriperumbudur town of southern state of Tamilnadu, the source said, who is not authorized to talk to the media and hence refused to name it. Tamil Nadu Industries Minister MC Sampath told Reuters that Foxconn, who already makes phone calls to Xiaomi Corp in India, would invest  25 billion indian rupees ($ 356 million) to expand the plant. He said that investment can create 25,000 jobs.

Another source also said that Foxconn planned to gather iPhones and assemble iPhones in India to limit the impact of trade war between the United States and China.

The Hindu newspaper first reported on December 24 that the Foxconn plant will start producing different models of the iPhone. Reuters first reports the size of the investment and the merging of that kind of phone.

Apple spokesman Trudy Muller refused to comment. Foxconn said that it does not comment on current or potential customers, or matters related to their products.

Low end phone

So far, Apple base on California, Capertino,  has assembled low cost SE and 6S models in India through the local unit of Wistron Corp in the Bangalore Technology Hub only.

According to the technology research firm Counterpoint, its sales in India are centered on low-end phones - more than half of its sales volume is operated by the older models launched from the iPhone 8 last year.

According to industry analysts, Apple had cut the price of the iPhone X last year, but this year the sales of new versions iPhone iPhone and XR have begun.

Still, it could possibly obtain Foxconn to create the old iPhone X version in India, where it sells cheap models in the bid to get a big share of the world's fastest growing major mobile phone market. The full details of Apple's deal with Foxconn are not yet clear and can change.

It is not known whether any of the iPhone assembly is being transferred from existing Foxconn factories in China and elsewhere. It is also not clear whether production will involve assembly in India or not 

Looking forward to China

Expanding the assembly beyond China is important to reduce the risks of China-Us trade war.

World's largest electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn is considering establishing a factory in Vietnam, the Vietnamese state media reported this month. If this goes forward, then it will be one of the most recent steps by a major company to secure an additional production base outside China.

Foxconn first acknowledged that China-US Trade Spat was its biggest challenge and its senior executives were planning to combat the impact.

Navkendran Singh, an Associate Research Director of International Data Corporation, said, "By widening the iPhone manufacturing in India through Foxconn, Apple will stop the risk of any new US business policies."

Indian tax on imports of components and components has increased Apple's headache in a market where it has only one percent share of smartphone shipments.

Singh said that making more phone locally would help Apple save expensive charges and promote Prime Minister Narendra Modi's major campaign to make India a manufacturing center.