The first iPhone SE devices that have been made in India are beginning to circulate around Bangalore, according to a report today by The Indian Express. The site noted that it's still hard to come by an iPhone SE with "Assembled in India" on its back, because Apple has kicked off its Indian iPhone production with just a small trial run of limited units.

iphone se india


The India-made iPhone SE models are mostly appearing in Bangalore, which is expected since that's where Apple's assembly plant is located. Apple officially began assembling iPhones in India in the middle of May, with sources predicting that retail outlets would get the first shipments over the next few weeks.

The handsets have been assembled by Apple supplier Wistron, and Apple's plans for local production of iPhone devices began as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" initiative last year. This past weekend, PM Nodi met with Apple CEO Tim Cook and a collection of other tech CEOs to discuss the Indian government's attempts to improve the country's business climate and convince American-based companies to extend manufacturing into India.

Unfortunately, the iPhone SE hasn't seen a price reduction yet in the country, despite Apple's local manufacturing goals finally being realized after so long, which the company hopes will eventually lead to lower-priced devices. The Bangalore-made iPhone SE models are said to be "priced the same as other models manufactured in China," and it's unclear when such a price reduction might come to the iPhone SE models made and sold in India.

Tag: India
Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

MrGuder Avatar
101 months ago
Would be cool to see Assembled in the USA!!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Adam Warlock Avatar
101 months ago
Too bad we in the West seem hellbent on giving away our prosperity and don't have nearly enough "Made in X" requirement policies.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
marf1million Avatar
101 months ago
Would be cool to see Assembled in the USA!!
Nah not really, they would probably fall apart after a few weeks.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macintoshmac Avatar
101 months ago
Thanks for the info! That's good to hear these jobs are slowly disappearing. I think it hasn't happened quickly due to cost (humans in a lot of places are still cheaper than robots) not company desire to automate, but regardless it's heartening to see this transformation taking shape. :)
Might you interest us in telling which profession are you in? Just to reduce costs and to attain a never-attainable perfection (because we are never happy with what we have, we just keep pushing boundaries to no end) you are willing to cut jobs that feed the population on the planet and call it heartening.

Robots weld our cars, make our cars, now we are trying to make robots drive our cars for us, what do you think remains to be the next step?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DogHouseDub Avatar
101 months ago
Would be cool to see Assembled in the USA!!
Ever take an iPhone apart? You think the people that can't operate an ATM, or operate the self-service kiosk at the airport, are going to build THAT? We're a country that prides itself in being knuckle-dragging mouth breathers. None of this is coming to the US without full automation - and the only necessary personnel are programers and engineers.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Keane16 Avatar
101 months ago
What would be cool is if the world's most valuable company would use technology to assemble their devices instead of taking advantage of cost of living differences in the Third World. And don't even start with the "but these are good jobs that help people survive" or "the wages are fair for the country they are paid in."
This has already started happening.

"One factory has "reduced employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000 thanks to the introduction of robots", a government official told the South China Morning Post."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36376966

And the long game is to be as fully automised as possible...

"Dai Jia-peng, the general manager of Foxconn’s automation committee, says the company has a three-phase plan in place to automate its Chinese factories using software and in-house robotics units, known as Foxbots."

https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/30/14128870/foxconn-robots-automation-apple-iphone-china-manufacturing

Machines should be assembling everything by now, and tech companies should be leading the way.
If it was as easy as flicking a switch to make it happen I'm sure they would. These things take time. But it will happen.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. iPhone 17 Pro's alleged design via Front Page Tech Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone...
iCloud General Feature Redux

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Receive a New Perk

Thursday March 20, 2025 12:01 am PDT by
If you pay for iCloud storage on your iPhone, Apple has a new perk for you, at no additional cost. The new perk is the ability to create invitations in the Apple Invites app for the iPhone, which launched in the App Store last month. In the Apple Invites app, iCloud+ subscribers can create invitations for any occasion, such as birthday parties, graduations, baby showers, and more. Anyone ...
Generic iOS 18

Apple Seeds iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 Release Candidate With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music and More

Monday March 24, 2025 10:07 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released the fourth betas. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. With iOS 18.4, Apple is adding the Priority Notifications...
airpods max 2024 colors

Don't Buy Into Apple's Hype About AirPods Max Gaining Lossless Audio

Monday March 24, 2025 4:24 pm PDT by
Apple today announced that AirPods Max with a USB-C port will be gaining support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio with a firmware update next month, alongside the release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS 15.4. For context, audio files are typically compressed to keep file sizes smaller. There are lossy compression standards like MP3 and AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), which...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Tuesday March 25, 2025 6:45 am PDT by
Apple is expected to release iOS 18.4 to the general public as soon as next week, following more than a month of beta testing. Apple's website says some iOS 18.4 features will be released in "early April," so the update should be out as early as Tuesday, April 1. Apple this week seeded the iOS 18.4 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, barring the discovery of any...
iOS 18

Top 5 New Features Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday March 21, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
We're not getting new Siri Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.4 as expected, but the upcoming update does have quite a few new additions that will be worth upgrading for. We've rounded up the five best features to look forward to, and if you're not running the beta, you can expect to get access to these in early April. Priority Notifications If you have an iPhone or iPad that supports...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Iridescent Search

Foldable iPhone Expected to Launch Next Year, Costing Around $2,000

Monday March 24, 2025 3:43 am PDT by
Apple will launch its long-rumored foldable iPhone next year with a ~$2,000 premium price tag attached, expects well-connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. Gurman's comments on Apple's launch plans for its first foldable device appeared in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter. Earlier this month, the reporter said Apple's foldable iPhone could be arriving "as early as 2026,"...
ios 19 messages app

Here's What Apple's iOS 19 Messages App Might Look Like

Tuesday March 25, 2025 11:52 am PDT by
Leaker Jon Prosser today shared a mockup of what he says the Messages app will look like in iOS 19, demoing an interface with rounded, translucent bubble-shaped navigation buttons at the top and softer, rounder corners for the keyboard and word suggestions. Jon Prosser's Messages app mockup The return button, a button for going back to the Messages list, and the FaceTime button have a deeper...