Apple may invest even more in its Indian division and should start producing more expensive iPhones in the country by 2019. The information was revealed by Reuters who have links to the company, and Foxconn should be responsible for assembling the devices.
Thus, the plant in the city of Sriperumbudur can be designated for the production of devices intended for the domestic market of India. For this, Foxconn should invest more than 25 billion rupees to expand the unit, since it is already used to produce smartphones from Xiaomi.
With the release of the news, Indian industry minister Tamil Nadu MC Sampath confirmed to Reuters that Apple should increase its presence in the country and create up to 25,000 direct jobs with the expansion of the Foxconn factory.
According to industry sources, Apple’s initiative is also a response to the Indian government, which, like Brazil, imposes high import fees for smartphones. With this, iPhones in India are usually extremely expensive for the population of the country.
Thus, realizing that its presence is declining in India, Apple has invested in the local production of the iPhone 6S and SE. Now with the new partnership with Foxconn, the expectation is that the iPhone X will be produced exclusively for the local market and this will cause more consumers to opt for devices from the Cupertino giant.
However, so far, Apple and Foxconn have not officially manifested on the subject. Thus, it is not yet possible to know whether the agreement between the companies involves a possible relocation of production from China to India at the same time as the Cupertino company loses ground in the Asian giant.
