Foxconn to begin assembling top-end Apple iPhones in India in 2019

“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,” Sankalp Phartiyal and Sudarshan Varadhan report for Reuters. “”
“Importantly, Foxconn will be assembling the most expensive models, such as devices in the flagship iPhone X family, the source said, potentially taking Apple’s business in India to a new level,” Phartiyal and Varadhan report. “The work will take place at Foxconn’s plant in Sriperumbudur town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, said the source.”
“Foxconn, which already makes phones for Xiaomi Corp in India, will invest 25 billion Indian rupees ($356 million) to expand the plant, including investment in iPhone production, Tamil Nadu’s Industries Minister M C Sampath told Reuters,” Phartiyal and Varadhan report. “The investment may create as many as 25,000 jobs, he added… Until now, Cupertino, California-based Apple has only assembled the lower-cost SE and 6S models in India through Wistron Corp’s local unit in the Bengaluru technology hub.”
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MacDailyNews Take: This is huge news that not only helps iPhone slaes in India, as Indian-made products avoid import taxes (meaning more affordable products for Indian consumers), but also will help to allay concerns of neative impacts on Apple resulting from the U.S.-China trade skirmish.
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Apple to meet with Indian government in Davos to discuss manufacturing in India – December 21, 2018