Gulveen Aulakh for The Economic Times:
“Apple has started to export iPhones to some European markets from India, three people aware of the development said, a move that boosts the government’s Make in India plan and is another step in the iconic smartphone company’s efforts of making India an export hub.
“The Cupertino-headquartered company’s contract manufacturer Wistron Corp’s India arm, which first started assembling iPhones in the country back in 2016, has become the first of Apple’s contract makers to export the smartphones from its facility in Bengaluru.
“iPhone 6s and iPhone 7 are being exported in quantities of under 100,000 units a month,” said Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint Research, citing export data that the firm tracks.”
We know Apple takes India seriously, and while we recently learned iPhone sales there are slow, we’ve also seen reports claiming Apple hopes to open its own retail stores there as soon as this year.
MacDailyNews Take: If Apple can find ways to stimulate consumer demand in India for iPhones, it could create another vibrant market – but it faces huge competition from cheap Android devices.