The chaos around Apple setting up an assembling facility in India is becoming overbearing. With contradictory reports swirling around the interwebs, there is no certainty about what the Cupertino giant has planned for its insistent expansion to our country. Now, another report which points to something completely different has surfaced.
Apple is hell bent on becoming a part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative by assembling iPhones in the country but their process for the same is expected to be quite different from other hardware manufacturers, says Economic Times. Citing senior industry executives, it corroborates the fact that the Cupertino giant has proposed assembly of iPhones in Bengaluru but it is planning to keep the sale of these devices restricted locally. These iPhones will not be exported to overseas markets.
In addition, the tech behemoth is also not planning to source parts for assembly of the iPhones from local manufacturers. Apple is probably looking to source parts from usual partners in China or Taiwan to maintain the quality of hardware components — which it is prominently recognised for. It might have also realised that India still doesn’t have a robust supply chain for silicon chips and other internal components.
Apple also isn’t looking to alter the internals to introduce a dual-SIM version of the iPhone in India. Though the local team has been pushing Cupertino to bend this one rule to cater to an even larger chunk of the populace. With a majority of Android users, the quantity of dual-SIM phones in India stands at a massive 80 percent but the company isn’t willing to compromise on its product even though it is one of the most requested features.
As for the decision to not export the locally assembled iPhones falls in line with the company’s announcement of slashing its production by 10 percent to clear out stocked items. This move also stems from the lack of expected sales figures and a shortage of camera modules for the iPhone 7 Plus. Talking about the same, one of the executives, said,
The Indian assembling unit is not being set up to add capacity to global operations, considering the company just announced a decision to cut global production by 10%. It’s to boost its other business plans in India and also build a strong relationship with the government.
For the past one year, Apple is continually running into hurdles and is struggling to step foot in the country. It has ambitious plans of taking its revenue up to $3 billion in two years, which is twice its current revenue in India. And this is only possible if Apple clears regulatory issues and the government aids the company by providing incentives and tax rebates. The assembly process will also lead to the establishment of distribution centers and exclusive retail stores in the country as well.
