New Delhi: Apple’s top-end iPhones, assembled in India by Foxconn’s local unit, are likely to hit stores in the country next month, a source said, potentially helping the company slash prices in India, which is world’s second-biggest smartphone market.
While some approvals are pending, the India-made iPhone XR and XS devices are expected to hit the market by August, the source said, asking not to be named as the matter is not public.
Expanding local assembly will help Apple save on high taxes levied on the import of fully-built devices, as well as meet local sourcing norms for opening its own retail stores in India.
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Cupertino, California-headquartered Apple also assembles the lower-cost SE, 6S and 7 models in India through Wistron Corp’s local unit in the tech hub of Bengaluru.
Apple’s devices are coveted by millions of Indians, but its premium pricing has limited its market share to a meager 1 percent to the gain of rivals such as China’s OnePlus.
“Local production will give Apple the leeway to play with the margins of their distributors and indirectly price their phones lower,” said Rushabh Doshi, a research director at tech consultancy Canalys.
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