Apple continues to invest heavily in India to ramp up its operations in the country. The company is soon set to start selling iPhone 12 devices which are assembled in India. As a result, the price of iPhones will be reduced by a good percentage. The company currently pays a hefty import duty for the iPhone 12 models which are manufactured in China and the costs are passed down to consumers.
The iPhone 11, the iPhone XR, and the iPhone SE are currently assembled in India. As a result, the price of assembled in India iPhones is on the same level as other countries such as the United States.
“Our manufacturing companies need to become an integral part of global supply chains, possess core competence and cutting-edge technology,” said Sitharaman in her February 1 address. Tucked into the government’s spending plan for the coming fiscal year, which starts on April 1, is a $28 billion (roughly Rs. 2,03,160 crore) programme to persuade foreign manufacturers to set up operations in India. It offers cash incentives for meeting certain sales targets in industries including autos, electronics, and pharmaceuticals, aimed at luring investors from regional rivals such as China and Vietnam that have lower operating costs.
Earlier this year, Apple shared that it had doubled its business in India compared to the same quarter last year. The company continues to grow as the prices of its products continue to reduce as it starts assembling its products in India.
“If you take India as an example, we doubled our business last quarter compared to the year ago quarter. But our absolute level of business there is still quite low relative to the size of the opportunity. And you can kind of take that and go around the world and find other markets that are like that as well,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the company’s Q1 2021 earnings call.