Apple's iPhone 11 is now being made in India, the first time a top-of-the-line model has been manufactured in the country, according to a report by the The Economic Times.
/article-new/2020/07/iphone-11-india.jpg?lossy)
The flagship smartphone is being manufactured at a Foxconn plant near Chennai, and Apple is planning to increase production in phases and may even consider exporting iPhone 11 handsets made in India, reducing its dependence on China.
Apple also sells China-made iPhone 11 handsets in India, so stepping up local production is a way to make the most of the government's Made in India initiative, which could see Apple save 22 percent on import duties and give it the option to potentially reduce prices.
A previous ET report said Apple could be planning to produce up to $40 billion worth of smartphones in India through contract manufacturers Wistron and Foxconn. Foxconn is also planning to invest $1 billion in the country to expand a local iPhone assembly plant, according Reuters.
Apple is rumored to be expanding its presence in India by introducing an online Apple Store in the third quarter of 2020. The company is also reportedly working on opening retail locations in the country beginning with a store in Mumbai.
Top Rated Comments
Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, not Chinese.
The average salary of a factory worker in India is about 155.97$ per month vs. 2150$ per month in USA, 13 times higher. See the difference? Costs to train the staff, build and maintain factories, electrical costs, costs to move materials, everything would be way more expensive in USA, resulting in products people couldn't afford anymore, obviously leading in the end to the unemployment of these workers, the bankruptcy of the companies that produce and sell the goods, the closing of the shops that act as an intermediary, the companies that ship the products to the shops and so on. Unless the government decides to pay for a 80% discount on these Made in USA products, but that would only add the USA to the entities that will fail because of this policy.
I don't know if there are actually "So many countries (that) require things like the Made in India initiative", you don't list anyone, I can't find any, could you? Even if there are some, they are probably countries that like India have a similar cost of work, utilities and so on, making them pointless to compare to western countries.
Unless the objective of a program like this is to lower USA standards of living to the China ones, I don't see how it could beneficial at all.
A company that employees Indians, pays taxes to India, employs Indians to build and maintain its factories, moves building materials, uses and pay Indian energy and so on and so on. What's your point?
I wonder if they would make iPhone 12 in India for launch as well.