A cabinet minister of the government of India has given the clearest signal yet that the republic is ready to help Apple expand its iPhone manufacturing base in the country and consider its requests for concessions.

Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu was quoted on Sunday by the India Economic Times as saying the state was "very happy" to help Apple in its aims, provided the company makes a formal proposal.

indian flag

"Let us get a good proposal from them...We will be very happy to receive Apple, one of the top brands in the world. We are willing to find out if there is any difficulty they may face. We will be more than happy to resolve that difficulty. So we will await a formal proposal," Prabhu told PTI in an interview.

Prabhu also reportedly said he was open to calling all state chief ministers who are willing to give Apple the best deal.

The comments come at an important time for Apple as it seeks to expand its manufacturing base in the country. The company has asked state officials for a range of tax and policy changes to help build out its iPhone assembly infrastructure in India, including duty exemptions on components, capital equipment, and consumables for all iPhone assembly and services/repairs for a period of 15 years.

Apple also wants the Indian government to relax rules that require 30 percent of products sold by foreign companies to be manufactured or produced within the country.

iPhone SE handsets have been assembled in India since May by Apple's Taiwanese supplier Wistron, which has reportedly been scouting for additional land in Bangalore to expand its existing facilities. Additionally, a report last week claimed the tentatively named iPhone SE 2 will be assembled exclusively by Wistron at its factories in India.

India recently overtook the U.S. to become the world's second largest smartphone market after China, according to market research conducted by industry analyst Canalys. However, Apple has so far struggled to make a significant dent, mainly because the government levies tariffs on devices manufactured outside the country, but also due to Chinese rivals such as Oppo and Xiaomi offering consumers more affordable high-spec smartphones.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: India

Top Rated Comments

2010mini Avatar
102 months ago
I respect India for strong arming Apple and forcing them to build a factory and produce the product there if they want to sell iPhones in that country

America could use a backbone
America chose to offshore low skilled labour. In return they were suppose to use the money saved on infrastructure, education, research and development etc..... instead we squandered billions on stupid wars.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
102 months ago
America chose to offshore low skilled labour. In return they were suppose to use the money saved on infrastructure, education, research and development etc..... instead we squandered billions on stupid wars.
You are conflating the US Government and private industry into one giant entity. The government didn't chose to offshore low skilled labor. That was, and still is private industry. Private industry is not responsible for education or infrastructure in the US. That was, and still is the government. Stupid wars are a partnership between govt and private sector, but that has nothing to do with offshore manufacturing.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnipgnop Avatar
102 months ago
India is the Plan B in case China becomes too hostile under Xi.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aniruddh Avatar
102 months ago
It would be great if they can reach to the terms so as to allow manufacturing flagship iPhones. The current price is almost >150% of what it is in US. :(
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macintoshmac Avatar
102 months ago
Apple is only doing this so that they can sell those old refurbished iPhones in India. They might just have those assembly there enough to produce iPhone for India and drop the old junks in their country. :D
As your fellow contributor to the population of the world, your reaction ( :D ) seems rather odd. Why would you appreciate Apple dropping old junk in any country?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2010mini Avatar
102 months ago
If you can go back to your original quote and come up with an explanation anywhere near your comment above, that would be amazing. Remember, my response introduced the aspect of private industry/companies. Your comment only mentioned the government as if it was responsible for everything you wrote. You wrote this:

There's no nuance in that quote. It's all conflated into one America that 1. offshored labor 2. didn't use the money saved from offshore labor on infrastructure, education, or R&D 3. spent money on war. So that I'm clear, my objection wasn't to your reasoning. My objection was to you trying to unify government, business, and if you hadn't forgotten, Wall Street into one entity.
My apologies. You are correct. I am much better having a discussion face to face rather than typing it out online. Especially while in a rush.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro and Air Feature

Two iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Colors Appear to Scratch More Easily

Friday September 19, 2025 10:02 am PDT by
As reported by Bloomberg today, some of the new iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air models on display at Apple Stores today are already scratched and scuffed. French blog Consomac also reported on this topic. The scratches appear to be most prominent on models with darker finishes, including the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in Deep Blue, and the iPhone Air in Space Black. Images Credit: Consoma ...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge

Monday September 22, 2025 2:16 am PDT by
Next year's rumored foldable iPhone will showcase an ultra-thin design resembling "two titanium iPhone Airs side-by-side," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Writing in the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says Apple's first foldable device will be "super thin and a design achievement," combining Apple's thinnest iPhone form factor with cutting-edge folding...
iOS 26

Everything New in iOS 26.1 Beta 1

Monday September 22, 2025 12:44 pm PDT by
Apple released the first beta of iOS 26.1 today, just a week after launching iOS 26. iOS 26.1 mainly adds new languages to Apple Intelligence, but there are a few other features that are worth knowing about. New Apple Intelligence Languages Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese. AirPo...
iOS 26

iOS 26.0.1 Coming Soon, Likely With iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro Fix

Thursday September 18, 2025 9:17 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The update will have a build number of 23A350, or similar, the account said. It is likely that iOS 26.0.1 will fix a camera-related bug on the new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro models. In his iPhone Air review, CNN Underscored's Henry T. ...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 17 Pro Max Teardown Reveals Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 Modem for 5G

Friday September 19, 2025 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone Air is equipped with Apple's custom C1X modem for cellular connectivity, all of the iPhone 17 models are outfitted with Qualcomm modems still. A teardown video shared on Chinese platform Bilibili today (via Reddit) appears to confirm the iPhone 17 Pro Max is equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X80 modem in particular. The same modem is likely used in the iPhone 17 and iPhone ...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air N1 Feature

Some iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone Air Users Experiencing Intermittent Wi-Fi Issue

Monday September 22, 2025 8:44 am PDT by
Apple's latest iPhone models launched on Friday, and some early adopters of the devices are experiencing intermittent Wi-Fi issues. Affected customers say Wi-Fi connectivity periodically cuts out on the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, with hundreds of comments about the issue posted across the MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and the Apple Support Community over the...