Apple will not be setting up any production facilities in India for its flagship iPhone models, a recent statement by a Foxconn executive confirms. The statement comes after months of speculation that the Cupertino based tech major will be shifting the production of its high-end iPhone models to India from China.
These speculations gained momentum in the last couple of months with the outbreak of Coronavirus in China. Many factories in China catering to the Apple supply chain have been shut since the time and the company is taking a huge blow in terms of its production timelines.
Despite this, Apple will not be shifting the production of its flagship models like the iPhone 11 to India. Apple had considered doing this in the past, with the company¡¯s operation staff even making repeated attempts for the same, as mentioned in The Wall Street Journal report.
The idea was to move the production out of China to countries like India and Vietnam. The top executives of the company, however, are not very keen on doing that as they feel that the move might jeopardise their sales in China which constitutes a large proportion of their sales.
Apple also cited the lack of skilled labour and a proper infrastructure as a reason for avoiding this shift. The same has been confirmed by a Foxconn executive now in an interview, saying "Apple is unlikely to shift any of the production of its most expensive iPhones to India later this year." The executive further mentioned that "the supply chain isn't in place, and workers in India aren't ready to produce the high-end, organic light-emitting diode models." A lack of english-speaking affordable and skilled labour is also a factor for this.
Apple already manufactures select iPhone models in India. These include the iPhone 7, iPhone 6S as well as the iPhone XR. A move of its flagships models¡¯ production to India would have helped drop the prices of these smartphones in the country with no import taxes. Now that the company has dropped the plan, it seems like Indians would be paying the exorbitant prices for every iPhone flagship till the unforeseeable future.