iPhone XR being assembled in India, Apple’s next big move?

Foxconn starts manufacturing Apple’s “most affordable iPhone” in India which could eventually lower iPhone prices in the country

The Cupertino giant did have some hard times in the country selling their highly-priced iPhones in India. Apple phones are not “that much” costly in other countries like the US, the UK as in India, importing, taxes, and other stuff make their price at least 20-40% times more.

So affordability of these smartphones is limited to a very small part of the society especially when you have a wide range of cheaper options. Apple is known for its premiumness and flagship specs but today OnePlus, Oppo, Samsung offers better flagships at lower price points. But why?

One of the main reason is the cost of importing iPhones rather than assembling them in the country. Samsung, Nokia, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus everyone has their production plant in India. Assembling the smartphone and then selling it makes the price cheaper to some level.

Now Apple has no other way but doing so, expanding its reign to the world’s second-largest smartphone market. To get a fanbase in India requires great quality products at competitive prices. One of the most popular recent iPhones was the iPhone XR and Apple is targeting India with the same smartphone.

As we know already Apple opened its iPhone SE manufacturing unit by Wistron and also the iPhone 6. These iPhone prices have gone down significantly due to the fact that they are being made in India. At its Bengaluru plant, Taiwan-based Wistron started assembling Apple’s older models in 2017. 

The Taipei smartphone manufacturing company Foxconn in Chennai has started assembling iPhone 7 series in India. Now eventually, after a long wait, we are seeing new iPhone XR in the market at comparatively lower prices.

This is helping Apple to “avoid high levies on the import of fully-built devices as well as meet local sourcing norms for opening its own retail stores in India.”

These new iPhones have “Assembled in India” tagline behind the product and they retail at Rs.49,900 for the 64GB version, which is a great deal for such a premium smartphone. They are available in leading stores like Croma and even online stores are said to be featuring these new iPhones.

Recently in the Flipkart and Amazon sales, it is surprising that the iPhones saw a record number of sales especially the iPhone XR and other ones as well. With offers and cashback, the iPhone XR was available for as low as Rs.36k, making it an amazing deal truly. During Flipkart and Amazon’s festive sales, the iPhone XR became one of the best selling smartphones.

This is the first step that can make Apple a giant in the country slowly and steadily. If the new iPhone 11 to makes its way to India via the “Assembled in India” project then customers can get a lot more variety in the premium level and the number Apple users will also increase in the country.

This move by Apple is a product of the US-China trade deal as the Cupertino giant knows that most of its smartphone assembling takes place in China. Now, Apple is gradually shifting its manufacturing units to other countries and the shift of production will indeed help Apple sleep peacefully even though it faces a huge blow in China.

Apart from investing $1 Bn in India to export ‘Made in India’ iPhones around the world, Apple is also looking forward to investing INR $140 Mn in India to set up its first online retail platform. Also, it plans to open three company-owned stores across major cities in the span of the next two to three years. 

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