Apple’s latest iPhone 15 series is witnessing a massive craze with multiple videos of customers flocking to the Apple stores in huge numbers going viral to buy the latest smartphone. As a result of the huge demand, Apple has been ramping up its operations across countries. It is also shifting its production dependency away from China. In India, the company has already been manufacturing some iPhone models and planning to scale up production here by over fivefold to around $40 billion (about 3.32 lakh crore) in the next 4-5 years.
When Apple Started Producing iPhones in India, and Which Models Are Made Here?
Apple started assembling iPhones in India in 2017 with its budget iPhone SE through Wistron’s facility in Karnataka. Currently, there are three contract manufacturers of iPhones in India — Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron. They manufacture iPhone 13, 14 and 14 Plus models in the country.
Apple is also producing the iPhone 15 at the Foxconn plant near Chennai. This is the first time that the tech giant is selling a made-in-India iPhone right from the launch stage. Earlier, iPhones in India used to be imported for the first few months of launch before local production started in the country. This year, the company started producing iPhone 15 from Day 1.
The Foxconn plant near Chennai is also in the process of producing the iPhone 15 Plus. However, the company is not looking to produce the iPhone Pro series in India for now.
Apple plans to start manufacturing Airpods from next year, news agency PTI has reported. The company, however, has no immediate plans to make iPads or its laptops in India.
“They (Apple) don’t have any plans to participate in IT hardware PLI. They may come at a later stage but as of now their focus is to scale up existing production levels,” the PTI report quoted a government official as saying.
Apple’s Future Plans For India
The company has plans to scale up production in India by over five-fold to around $40 billion (about 3.32 lakh crore) in the next 4-5 years, according to the PTI report quoting government sources.
Apple has crossed the $7 billion production mark in the last financial year, according to the report.
“Apple has plans to increase production in India to over $40 billion in the next 4-5 years. It has crossed $7 billion in the last fiscal,” the PTI reported the official as saying.
The company globally sold iPhones worth $191 billion and products worth $38.36 billion in the wearable, home and accessories segment in the financial year ended on September 25, 2022.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal, the company recorded about a 4 per cent dip in iPhone sales at $156.77 billion and a slight decline in the wearable, home and accessories segment at $30.52 billion.
The company has become the largest exporter of mobile phones from India.
According to industry sources, sales of Apple’s iPhone 15 series registered a 100 per cent growth compared to that of the iPhone 14 series on the launch day on Friday.
On September 12, 2023, iPhone 15 was launched in India at Rs 79,900, iPhone 15 Plus at Rs 89,900, and iPhone 15 Pro at Rs 1,34,900 for 128 GB base variants. iPhone 15 Pro Max 256 GB has been launched at Rs 1,59,900.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, Apple led the ultra-premium segment, with phones priced above Rs 45,000 apiece, with 59 per cent market share in the first quarter of 2023 and India is among the top-five markets for the company now.
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