Apple Won't Make Flagship iPhone Models in India Anytime Soon: Report

Apple is unwilling to move flagship iPhone production to India due to lack of skilled labour.

By Abhik Sengupta | Updated: 3 March 2020 14:28 IST

Apple Won't Make Flagship iPhone Models in India Anytime Soon: Report

China has the second-largest number of Apple consumers worldwide

Highlights

iPhone 11 production will stay in China
No plans to move Apple factories to Vietnam and India
Apple production in China has been impacted due to coronavirus

Apple is not keen on setting up new factories for its flagship iPhones in India despite considering "plans" in the past. A report published on Monday suggests that the production of iPhone 11 will not come to country to due to the unavailability of skilled labour and robust infrastructure. Currently, the iPhone 11 is manufactured in China along with many other Apple products. However, due to this, the Cupertino-based company has taken a big blow as many factories in China have come to halt following coronavirus outbreak.

According to the report by The Wall Street Journal, despite repeated attempts by the operations staff, Apple's senior executives were not keen on moving production factories outside China to countries such as India and Vietnam. In 2019, Apple had even planned to shift iPhone 11 production to India from China, the report added.The move was later rebuffed as Apple feared this could jeopardise its sales in China that counts for nearly a fifth of its total revenue. The availability of English-speaking affordable skilled labour is another factor Apple doesn't want to let go.

"Apple is unlikely to shift any of the production of its most expensive iPhones to India later this year," a Foxconn executive told The Wall Street Journal. "The supply chain isn't in place, and workers in India aren't ready to produce the high-end, organic light-emitting diode models," the executive added.

In 2019, Apple started the assembling of iPhone 7 at its supplier Wistron's facility in Bengaluru. Before this, the Taiwanese industrial major Wistron had already assembled the iPhone 6s in India. The company also reportedly begun manufacturing iPhone XR in India at the Foxconn plant in Chennai.

A shift towards India for the production of its flagship products could also mean the reduction in the price of Apple goods that currently retail at exuberant prices in the country. This is mainly due to the heavy taxes levied on imported products. For instance, a 64GB variant of iPhone 11 that costs roughly Rs. 64,000 in India, can cost $499 (roughly Rs. 37,000) in the US.

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