Apple to start producing iPhones in India in the coming months

Apple's ambitions of manufacturing iPhones in India are coming to fruition, according to the latest report by Reuters. The news agency claims that two different sources from the industry have confirmed that Wistron Corp, a Taiwanese manufacturing partner of Apple, is in the process of building an assembly plant in the southern Indian technology hub of Bengaluru (Bangalore).

The plant is said to open in the next few months and will focus entirely on handset production. The first iPhone to have "Assembled in India" on the back is going to be less expensive iPhone SE, which is hardly surprising, considering that Cupertino released the model with the idea of enticing consumers in developing markets. An earlier report by The Economic Times indicated that Apple initially planned to produce 300,000 to 400,000 iPhone SE units, but the latest information suggests that the numbers will be considerably lower to begin with.

Local manufacturing and potential government tax holidays will likely reduce the price of the handset to a certain degree, but more needs to be done from Tim Cook & Co. in order to popularize the brand in the South Asian country. The majority of smartphone purchases in India are made for less than $150, which is far lower than the current $424 asking price of the iPhone SE.

source: Reuters