Skip to main content

Apple reportedly in talks to manufacture devices in India

It wasn’t all that long ago that Apple began entertaining the notion of manufacturing the iPhone, iPad, and iPod in the United States, and now the Cupertino, California-based company is reportedly considering a similar move involving another country. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in talks with the Indian government to manufacture its products in India.

This isn’t the company’s first overture. Earlier this month, The Press of India reported that Apple requested incentives in a letter to India’s Department of Revenue and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeITY). Specifically, it sought tax exemptions based on the justification that it makes “state-of-the-art” and “cutting-edge” technology products for which “local sourcing isn’t possible.”

Recommended Videos

Senior Trade Ministry authorities have met to discuss Apple’s proposition, according to The Wall Street Journal. And CEO Tim Cook discussed the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the two met in New Delhi.

Apple’s entreaty comes on the heels of two rejections. The Indian government previously turned down Apple’s request to import refurbished phones and sell them in India, keeping in place a network of third-party distributors. And it refused to allow the company to open Apple Stores, citing strict regulations on foreign direct investment.

But signs of change are in the air. In June, the government announced that certain brand retailers — specifically those who have agreed to purchase at least 30 percent of their raw materials from Indian vendors for a minimum of three years — may open brick-and-mortar outlets in the country.

Moving the manufacture of smartphones, tablets, and other devices in India could help the company meet that requirement. In contrast to competitors like Samsung and Xiaomi, which already assemble products in India, Apple manufactures most of its smartphones in China, South Korea, Japan, and the U.S.

And this move could reduce the cost of the iPhone in a country where its retail price is consistently among the highest in the world. A weakening rupee, buffers against currency inflation, and an increase in taxes on imported goods drove the iPhone’s going rate to record heights last year. In October 2015, an entry-level 16GB iPhone 6S cost $955 in India compared to $845 in France, the second most expensive place to buy an iPhone. The same model retailed for $650 in the United States.

Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst at market research agency Counterpoint, told BuzzFeed that iPhone prices in the country could drop 12-13 percent if Apple made its devices in India.

Apple has a powerful incentive to pursue the move. In the second quarter of this year, Apple reported its first annual decline in 15 years. More than 97 percent of all smartphones in India run Android, Google’s mobile operating system. And the country’s smartphone market is booming. According to research firm IDC, the country is poised to overtake the U.S. as the world’s second-largest market for the devices, behind China.

Kyle Wiggers
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
Apple Watch 11.1 beta 3 pulled following bricking reports
The Apple Watch Series 10 on someone's wrist with the screen on.

The occasional risks associated with downloading beta releases have been highlighted by Apple’s decision on Wednesday to pull the watchOS 11.1 beta 3 update following user reports that it had bricked their Apple Watch. The company made the decision just hours after releasing it to developers for testing.

A MacRumors reporter noted the development in a post on X (formerly Twitter), revealing that Apple had pulled tha watchOS 11.1 beta 3 update after users on various online forums started complaining about their watches "locking up” until they were rebooted, though in some cases, even rebooting was met with limited success.

Read more
Apple’s tabletop device might usher in a new OS with Apple Intelligence
Apple HomePod 2023

Apple has reportedly been working on a new kind of display-focused smart home device for a while now, and it seems it will arrive as early as next year. Now, Bloomberg reports that Apple is eyeing not one but two such devices across different price points and that they will mark the era of a new AI-first software approach.

Codenamed J595, this one is a high-end machine that features a large iPad-inspired screen and robotic limbs. The other one, which internally goes by the J490 identifier, is more like a conventional smart display — think a screen slapped on a speaker base – that would predominantly serve as a FaceTime machine and smart home control hub.

Read more
The next Apple HomeKit device could blend HomePod, iPad, and AI
Apple HomePod 2023

Apple HomeKit has always lagged behind Alexa and Google Assistant, notably lacking a smart display similar to that of the Echo Show 15 or the Nest Hub. Rumors suggest that the company's next gadget might rectify that. MacRumors reported code found in Apple's backend that referenced something called HomeAccessory17,1. That might not seem like much to go on until you realize that HomePod is similarly named AudioAccessory.

There are still too few details to make any definitive conclusions, but we can venture an educated guess that the upcoming device might be powered by the A18 chip and feature AI-focused features. Apple already has plans to integrate OpenAI and Siri. Adding AI-powered intelligence into a smart home system would potentially give it never-before-seen functionality — perhaps even more than what Alexa can currently offer, although Google Assistant's use of Gemini could level the playing field.

Read more