Apple To Produce Top-End iPhones In India As Early As 2019

Reuters today quoted a number of people familiar with the matter as saying that Apple will assemble high-end iPhones in India in 2019 throu...

Reuters today quoted a number of people familiar with the matter as saying that Apple will assemble high-end iPhones in India in 2019 through the Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn. More importantly, Foxconn will assemble the most high-end iPhone X models in the country. Analysts said the move will push Apple's business in the Indian market to a new level.

Apple Inc will begin assembling its top-end iPhones in India through the local unit of Foxconn as early as 2019, the first time the Taiwanese contract manufacturer will have made the product in the country, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The person familiar with the matter also said that the Foxconn plant, which will begin producing top-end iPhones for Apple, is located in a factory in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. According to Tamil Nadu's Minister of Industry, M C Sampath, Foxconn will invest 25 billion Indian rupees (about 356 million US dollars) to expand the plant. Sampath also stated that the investment is expected to create up to 25,000 jobs.

So far, Apple has only assembled low-cost models like iPhone SE and 6S in the Indian market through Wistron. Moreover, the models that the iPhone sells in India are also dominated by low-end models. In recent years, although the sales of smartphones in the Indian market have soared, Apple's market share only gets about 2%, as it continues to shrink even further.