Apple has begun commercial production of the iPhone XR locally at the Foxconn facility near Chennai, India, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu.
Writankar Mukherjee for ETTelecom:
Apple aims to make India one of its key global production hubs. This will include assembly of the latest flagship iPhones in sync with worldwide release schedules and help as a de-risking strategy against the bulk of its production being located in China, currently in a trade spat with the US, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Following this, Apple plans to start making the latest iPhone 11 series. Making the iPhone XR involves a higher level of technical skill, the executives said. Apple will export the devices to other markets after having tested the waters with the export of iPhone 6s and 7 models to Europe in the past few months.
Apple now has two of its big global contract manufacturers operating in India. Before Foxconn, Taiwan’s Wistron had started iPhone assembly in India near Bengaluru in 2017 but this was limited to older models.
Apple is also preparing to set up company-owned retail stores and start direct online sales in India after the government relaxed foreign direct investment (FDI) norms for single-brand retail in August.
Apple’s global suppliers such as Flex Ltd, Salcomp Plc, Sunwoda Electronic Co, CCL Design (Suzhou) and Shenzhen Yuto Packaging Technology Co. have set up base in India and are manufacturing parts and accessories such as chargers and battery packs locally.
MacDailyNews Take: We love it when a plan (finally) comes together!
The move to diversify production worldwide in order to mitigate risk should have begun more urgently earlier. Apple needs to continue and step up their work to liberate themselves from communist China’s threats. — MacDailyNews, October 9, 2019
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
It’s a shame almost no one in India will be buying iPhones due to their high cost. Apple’s iPhone will likely maintain only a 1% market share in the second-highest populated country in the world. That’s just freaking absurd for any company selling consumer tech products.
Better India than Communist China….