Apple Inc will soon start selling its iPhones in India made locally. The company, for a long time, was in discussions with the government of India to allow it to import certain key components at concessional duty rates but the government did not relent. The Indian government wants to encourage domestic manufacturing. The iPhones now being made here by Foxconn will definitely be priced lower than the imported ones, though there are no definite details on that yet.
Some of the key components of the prices are the import duties paid earlier. These will be absent plus sourcing locally would have given an additional saving on the costs.
The models likely to be sold out of domestic production are the iPhone XS and XR, subject to certain approvals. August is the month the market may see these phones hitting the shelves. As mentioned, these are market expectations with no confirmation from the manufacturer.
iPhones sales in India have been abysmally low primarily due to the pricing, leaving it with a market share of just 1%. India being the second largest market for mobile phones and the largest one China already down due to the US-China trade issues, it’s important for Apple to lift its iPhone sales volumes. Some of the other models that Apple gets assembled in India include the iPhone SE, 6s and 7.
India’s push for local manufacturing has been met with success with Samsung setting up a huge manufacturing unit inaugurated just outside the country’s capital Delhi. Similarly, Chinese company Oppo makes a very large volume of its mobile phones in its Indian unit.
Apart from a massive domestic market, all these phone makers have the opportunity to export their devices from here. Apple already does that with models like the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 7 to countries in Europe.
The exact pricing of Apple’s India-made high-end devices will be interesting to look forward to.