Apple to assemble iPhones in India

[rahul1117kumar]

Apple Inc is in talks with India's government to explore making products locally, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, as the U.S. firm aims to make deeper inroads in the world's second-largest mobile phone market by users.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to boost technology manufacturing in the country through his ' Make in India' initiative. His government in June exempted foreign retailers for three years from a requirement to locally source 30 percent of goods sold in their stores.

The Journal said Apple, in a letter to the federal government in November, outlined manufacturing plans and asked for financial incentives.

Government representatives were not available to comment while an Apple spokesman in India did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters seeking comment.

Local manufacturing would help Apple open retail stores in the country where its iPhones account for less than 2 percent of Indian smartphones sales.

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (Foxconn ) , which makes Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads, has a manufacturing facility in southern India.

apple in talks with india to manufacture locally, Telecom News, ET Telecom

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Apple plans to make iPhones in Bengaluru from April

Apple plans to make iPhones for the Indian market in Bengaluru. Wistron, a Taiwanese OEM maker for Apple, is setting up a facility in Peenya, the city's industrial hub, to manufacture the iPhones. The facility will start production from next April, according to industry sources.

Top sources in the company confirmed to TOI that Apple is "very serious" about beginning assembly operations —and thereafter full manufacture — in India by the end of next year. " Bangalore is being looked at seriously," said multiple sources within the company. Local manufacture will help Apple price its phones competitively as full imports attract 12.5% additional duty.

Foxconn , Apple's largest Taiwan-based OEM, earlier committed to setting up a manufacturing plant in Maharashtra. The assumption was the plant would make only Apple products. But sources say Foxconn has tied up with other players like Xiaomi and OnePlus for local manufacture and not necessarily to only make Apple products there.

This will be Apple's second big announcement for Bengaluru. In May, Apple announced a design and development accelerator in the city to grow the iOS developer community and also to guide Indian developers to leverage Apple's programming language Swift and build apps for Apple TV and Apple The facility will open early next year.

The Bengaluru manufacturing facility underscores India's importance for the Cupertino-based company.

Apple CEO Tim Cook's multi-city India tour earlier this year signalled the growing importance of India powered by the demand for Apple products by a burgeoning middle class. Data from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Technology Market Research showed that Apple sold 2.5 million iPhones in India from October 2015 to September 2016, a rise of more than 50% over the year-ago period.

The revenue numbers speak for themselves.
Apple India clocked robust sales touching Rs 9,997 crore in the 2016 financial year, up 56% from Rs 6,472 crore, previously. The company's net profit grew 21% to Rs 294 crore during the same period with deeper retail penetration and lower prices for older iPhone models that garnered a huge user base. An email sent to Apple didn't elicit a response till the time of going to press.

Apple has published job openings on its portal for a few positions at its OEM's factory in Bengaluru like operations program manager and product quality manager. Faisal Kawoosa, principal analyst (telecom) at CyberMedia Research, said, "Apple coming to India is a big booster for the make in India initiative."

Apple: apple plans to make iphones in bengaluru from april, Telecom News, ET Telecom

 

[Tha.RP8]

Good news. Slowly brands are starting to make in India, first Xiaomi, then Apple..

 

[rahul1117kumar]

Apple to start manufacturing iPhones in India by June

Apple will start manufacturing iPhones in India. The assembly facility will come up at Bengaluru, and it will be operated by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron. Though an exact timeframe has not been announced, production is expected to kick off in June.

The announcement comes via a press release signed by Karnataka state’s information technology minister Priyank Kharge. “We made concerted efforts to reach out to Apple directly. We want to create a conducive environment for global majors like Apple,” Kharge told ToI . “Apple’s iPhones will be made in Bangalore and all devices will be targeted at the domestic market,” he added. Reports say states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana too were competing for the Apple facility.

Kharge was also quoted as saying, “We did not discuss any other incentives.” This is important because Apple was in the news a lot for allegedly lobbying towards favorable incentives to finally start manufacturing its devices in India. Needless to say, this did not sit well with other manufacturers. BGR India has reached out to Apple for comment.

When the Bengaluru plant is operational later this year, India will become the third country globally to assemble iPhones. Make in India iPhones is a part of Apple’s renewed focus towards the country, which has fast become among the most important markets for the company. During the recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook reiterated that India was the ‘place to be’ and also announced that the company had seen double-digit growth across segments.

Recently, a Counterpoint report revealed that Apple had shipped 2.5 million iPhones in India in 2016, making their highest ever. While it still lags behind in the 10th position as far as smartphone companies in India are concerned, Apple did top the premium smartphone segment — Rs 30,000 and above — with a 62 percent market share.

Apple to start manufacturing iPhones in India by June

 

[Bapun]

Apple statement will be a big blow to India's PLI scheme to handset makers who have not only planned to invest in India but also hire thousands in their facilities.

Apple puts Wistron on probation, confirms lapses in worker payment that led to violence