It’s 2019, and Apple Will Begin Assembling iPhone X in India!

2019 is off to a great start for Apple lovers like us as Apple India has announced its plans to begin assembling their top-end iPhones in the country. The plant will be run by Apple’s Taiwanese contract manufacturer, Foxconn, and is likely to be operational within a few months.

The Taiwanese manufacturer, which already manufactures phones for Xiaomi Corp, has their manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur town in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu’s Industries Minister M C Sampath told Reuters that Foxconn will invest Rs. 25 billion to expand the plant which will also reportedly create 250,000 jobs.

Reuters also reported that Foxconn will be assembling expensive models like the flagship iPhone X family which will potentially improve Apple’s business in the Indian market.

Apple’s unimpressive sales shocked its investors when the sales predictions actually fell short in spite of the launch of the 3 new models – iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and Xr. The pricey iPhone X was launched last year, and industry analysts said that the production for that has been reduced after the launch of the newer models iPhone XS and XR.

Apple has mostly focused on the sales of the lower end phones in India with sales driven mainly by models older than the iPhone 8, according to Counterpoint, technology research firm.

Before Foxconn’s entry into the scene, Cupertino, California-based Apple assembled the lower cost iPhone SE and iPhone 6S models in Bengaluru through Winstron Corp’s local unit.

Apple hasn’t fully disclosed the details of the deal, so there are still a lot of things that aren’t clear. Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller declined to comment on whether any of the iPhone assembly will be moved from the existing Foxconn factories in China and elsewhere. They also did not disclose whether the production will only be confined to assembly or if it will include any component production in India.

Foxconn also took the same stand and refused to comment on matters related to current or potential customers, or any of their products. They also did not immediately respond to a confirmation query regarding the Rs. 25 billion investment in Tamil Nadu.

We can now only wait until both parties come out with more detailed reports. However, the news of more iPhones getting the ‘assembled in India’ is all but confirmed.