Apple starts Assembling iPhone SE in Bengaluru, India

The well-known Silicon valley organisation Apple has reportedly started production of its iPhone SE smartphone units in Bengaluru, India. The company has also announced that the first batch of developed smartphones will be available for the domestic customers from the running month itself.

Apple in a statement said, "We are beginning initial production of a small number of iPhone SE in Bengaluru. iPhone SE is the most popular and powerful phone with a four-inch display in the world and we will begin shipping to domestic customers this month.”

The news of Apple assembling iPhone SE units in India was first disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, which further added that the work is being started at Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron's plant in Bengaluru. This great step by the company hints its efforts to target Indian consumers, at the time when the smartphone sales are not having a rapid growth.

According to the Indian Law, the company will have to source 30 percent of mobile components locally, and will also need to reduce the price tag of the handset. As a recall, iPhone SE made its official debut in March 2016 with a price tag of Rs 39,000 in India, whereas in the US, it retailed for $399 ( Rs. 25,500). The iOS smartphone is currently getting sold priced at Rs. 25,000 in the country, which still comes in the premium mid-range segment in the Indian market.

These hopes from the silicon valley firm are a bit heavy, as Apple is known to be stingy when it comes to reducing its profit margins.However, if Apple starts production in India, the additional prices, such as tax duties and other legal formalities will fall down automatically, which will give Apple the margin to price its iPhones more competitively in the Indian market. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report, the government of India expects that Apple will eventually slice down the price of iPhone SE by $100 (roughly Rs. 6,800). 

Apart from that, it still remains to be seen how Apple deals with the government regulations and the competitive Indian market. The fresh data from Kantar World panel also showed that Apple has a large scope of iPhones sales in India. Smartphone sales in India have been increased by 16 percent in the initial quarter of 2017, whereas, the global growth rate was just 3 percent. It indicates that the India is one of the prospective countries for manufacturing iPhone. Moreover, the Reliance Jio has also boosted up the 4G growth rate in the country, which also made India profitable in the eyes of the Cupertino giant.