Cupertino based technology giant Apple took the definition of pricey smartphones to a different level last year when it launched the iPhone X. While a number of loyalists were left baffled with the exorbitant pricing and decided to go for the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, some opted for the tenth-anniversary edition inspire of the high cost. And this year, the prices went even higher with iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Even the base model of the two smartphones bear a price tag of over Rs 1 lakh. And the supposedly ‘affordable’ iPhone XR is also priced at over Rs 70,000.
Soon after the latest lineup of iPhones went on sale in India, reports started surfacing online that iPhone sales have seen a decline. Some media reports said that Apple is set to see the first full-year fall in revenue in the country and others claimed that the company has cancelled production of iPhone XR, which it thought would have better sales than iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max when it was launched. While the sales of iPhone XR never escalated, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus did start selling well after the launch of the latest iPhones. So maybe for consumers, they were the real affordable iPhones.
However, Apple may be coming up with a strategy to change the fate of its latest iPhones in India. According to a report in the Economic Times, Apple plans to start the production of its latest iPhones in India. The report quotes sources who have stated that Apple will be partnering will Foxconn to manufacture the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR in the country. The smartphone giant may also start manufacturing the iPhone X in the country in order to lower the price of the device.
The report further reveals that Foxconn will be manufacturing these iPhones at Sriperumbudur plant located in Tamil Nadu. According to Reuters, Tamil Nadu’s Industries Minister M C Sampath has said that the iPhone manufacturer will be investing Rs 25 billion in the Sriperumbudur plant in order to accommodate the manufacturing of the new iPhones. It is worth noticing that Foxconn also manufactures devices for Xiaomi in India.
Till now, a contributory factor in the high pricing iPhones was the import duty that Apple had to pay. However, with iPhone manufacturing coming to India, we can expect the pricing of the smartphones to fall.
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