The iPhone 12 Pro price in India makes it so expensive that it’s actually cheaper to book a return flight to Dubai and buy it there than it is to buy it locally …
Expand Expanding Close
Indian manufacturing incentives proposed earlier in the year have now been confirmed. In return for manufacturing premium smartphones in India, manufacturers will qualify for incentives worth between 4% and 6% of the cost of each device.
Although open to any brand, the scheme has a requirement which is expected to primarily benefit Apple and Samsung …
Expand Expanding Close
Back in June, India began banning Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat over security and privacy concerns while a border dispute was heating up between the two countries. Now India has added over 100 more Chinese apps to its banned list including PUBG, Tencent, Alipay, and further WeChat apps. The move comes as the US ban of TikTok is approaching in November.
Expand Expanding Close
Apple is set to launch an official first-party presence in India, with the launch of the Apple Online Store beginning next month according to a report today from Bloomberg. This lines up with a Q3 timeline reported by TechCrunch earlier this year.
Apple is finally able to start direct sales in the region as Indian government rules that companies must source 30% of components domestically were relaxed last year. The launch of the Indian Apple Online Store will be followed by the opening of physical stores, starting in Mumbai.
Expand Expanding Close
Indian iPhone production has begun at a new Wistron plant, initially with test production before mass production begins next month. Wistron has also begun recruiting 10,000 staff for its newest plant.
The move reflects another step forward in Apple’s more ambitious manufacturing plans for the country …
Expand Expanding Close
Government action that badly disrupted iPhone production in India is no longer affecting imports of iPhone components, according to a Foxconn statement…
Update: There seems some potential good news ahead. Economic Times reports that the Indian government is considering an exemption to the checks for foreign companies like Apple.
iPhone assembly in India has been badly disrupted as tensions with China continue to rise, says a new report.
Components arriving from China are said to have been held in Indian customs in what seems to be the latest escalation of the fallout from a disputed border between the two countries…
It appears that a longstanding border dispute between India and China was behind India’s partial ban on Chinese apps from the country. In one of the more bizarre elements of the story, it has been reported that Indian and Chinese soldiers fought with clubs and rocks …
The Indian government has made a big move today in limiting the Chinese apps that are available in the country. In response to security and privacy concerns, 59 popular Chinese apps and services including TikTok, WeChat, and Weibo are no longer accessible in India.
Build-to-order Macs (BTO) are finally available in India through Apple Authorized Resellers. Previously, customers in the world’s second-most populous country could only buy the base model Mac, or one of a limited number of preconfigured upgrade options.
The introduction of the BTO option means that customers in India now have the same options as those buying direct from Apple in other countries …
Apple has reportedly been in talks geared to shifting up to a fifth of iPhone production from China to India over the next five years. Most of the production would be for export.
This would represent a massive ramping up of the Cupertino company’s efforts to reduce its dependence on China, following a report that the company is to make AirPods outside the country for the first time …
New data from Counterpoint Research today indicates that Apple’s marketshare in India continues to grow. While Apple still faces strong competition from companies like Xiaomi, the iPhone 11 and various pricing promotions have helped attract new buyers.
All iPhone production in India has been suspended as the country’s prime minister announced a strict 21-day lockdown to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
In the strictest rules seen yet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that almost nobody is allowed outside their homes for three weeks …
Apple’s reliance (some would say over-reliance) on China has been a hotly-debated topic for some time. The company’s efforts to boost Apple production outside China have never been of greater interest than now, however, when the coronavirus outbreak is having a substantial impact inside the country.
India has been one of the countries making a concerted effort to win more of Apple’s manufacturing business, but a couple of reports have highlighted some of the challenges to making this a workable option …
A new report from the Wall Street Journal today details Apple’s dependency on China for its supply chain, and how that is unlikely to change in the near future. According to the report, some Apple executives suggested relocating manufacturing of at least one product to Vietnam, but the idea was “rebuffed” by senior management.
We learned during the Apple shareholder meeting that the company is planning to open an Apple Store in India in 2021 – and it has now been revealed that this was in part thanks to an intervention by the Trump administration.
Tim Cook shared Apple’s plans last week …
Counterpoint Research has doubled-down on an earlier report that Apple saw a ‘complete turnaround’ in its fortunes in India, estimating that Indian iPhone shipments grew 41% year-on-year in 2019.
It said that the iPhone XR was the best-selling smartphone in the ‘ultra-premium’ category, ahead of Samsung and OnePlus models, with the iPhone 11 also selling well…
The HomePod was launched in the United States back in 2017 and since then its expansion around the world has been quite slow. And after being launched in Japan last year, the company confirmed today that the HomePod will also be available shortly in India.
Apple’s reported turnaround in India seems to be continuing, as iPhone assembler Wistron says that its third Indian iPhone plant is now ramping up for full-scale production after an earlier successful trial.
Wistron was Apple’s first iPhone assembler in the country, and initially began production with the iPhone SE — still sold there — before adding the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7…
Apple supplier Foxconn is refuting reports that it has backed out of an agreement to invest $5 billion in manufacturing facilities in India. The Times of India first reported on the development this week, citing comments from Industries Minister Subhash Desai.
2019 saw a “complete turnaround” in the performance of Apple in India, says a report — with local researchers predicting that there is even better news to come in 2020.
The report said Apple’s revitalized fortunes in the country were due to a mix of iPhone pricing, Mac sales and wearables…
Some Indian-made iPhones will be exported for sale in other countries, the government said today.
An unconfirmed report had previously suggested that a small number of iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 models were being exported from India to Europe, but the statement is the first official confirmation that this is part of Apple’s plans for the country…
A report last week said that a Foxconn facility had begun making the iPhone XR in India, and a new report today backs this.
The Wall Street Journal’s Newley Purnell supported the report with a tweeted photo of an iPhone XR box printed with “Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in India”…