The iPhone 12, which launched last October, is confirmed to be manufactured in India.
However only the base or the vanilla model will be manufactured in the Foxconn facility in Tamil Nadu, the pro models being imported from China.
Despite being the host manufacturer Indian consumers will in all probability not be enjoying any price benefits since prices are expected to remain the same.
Apple first began making iPhones in India in 2017. Since then it has been the hotbed of iPhone SE, iPhone XR, iPhone SE 2020, and iPhone 11, a lineup the iPhone 12 is now entering.
Despite the manufacture of the other models in India none of them saw any corresponding drop in retail prices, hence the pattern can be expected to continue with the iPhone 12.
India’s PLI Scheme
Local production will be taking place under the Indian govt’s Performance Linked Incentive scheme which serves to provide a fillip to international companies looking to set up shop in India.
Under this scheme Apple has partnered with Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron.
Under PLI, manufacturers get a cashback between 1-4% of additional sales of locally manufactured products over a span of 4 years, with 2019-2020 being the baseline.
Good News for India
With the shifting of base iPhones will see a reduced import tax of 22% and will see increased localised hiring and job creation. All this serves to give a boost to “Aatma Nirbhar Bharat” initiative of the government.
India has also been trying to increase exports which this development will now encourage further.
Apple’s Growth in India
Despite his optimism Tim Cook acknowledged that Apple’s presence in India is not as big as it could be given the enormous size of the market.
Despite a growth from 2% in Dec FY2019 to 4% in Dec FY2020, Apple still shares a very modest piece of the pie. In the Indian market over 50% of iPhone sales are attributed to the older models.
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