Apple is trying its best to establish their presence in India. The company has reportedly in talk with its largest manufacturing partner, Foxconn for evaluating the opportunities of manufacturing their smartphones in India. The company is expected to begin its manufacturing in India in next two or three years
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook had recently visited India but he hasn’t revealed anything about company’s plans for manufacturing their products in India. But he mentioned that manufacturing could be the thing they would logically look at. And now, a report from Economic Times is claiming that Apple has moved toward Foxconn on the possibility of iPhones’ manufacturing in India, as Foxconn already has their manufacturing unit in India.
“India is fastest growing smartphone industry in World, but our base there is smaller”, Mr. Cook mentioned last month in an interview in Washington Post .
In India, there are certain requirements for any company to open their retail operations. If a company wishes to retail their products in India, then it will have to set up manufacturing unit which will produce a portion of the goods in the country itself. Apple is still working on country’s strict requirements.
India has started to impose different duty structures for companies who manufacture their products in the country. This indicates that the Indian manufactured devices will be cheaper than the imported one. By having Apple’s own manufacturing plant in India, the company will achieve retail and political benefits as well. In addition, the company is also considering a handful of other positive benefits with their manufacturing plant in India.
However, manufacturing smartphones in India come with a set of challenges. Apple’s manufacturing process is far different than those indigenous brands who manufacture in India. Apple requires higher investments, cutting-edge technology to produce high-end smartphones and its components which can be fulfilled in countries like China easily. But this is far challenging even for giants like Apple to set up a manufacturing plant in India.
Indian manufactured iPhone or any Apple devices will not only help in product’s price reduction, but it will also enable the company to release their product as soon as it’s official launch. The latest iPhone 6s smartphone device starts at a price of Rs. 62,000 while the iPhone 6s Plus prices start from Rs. 72,000. Having said that, any chance for price reduction on Apple products would be most welcomed by consumers.
