Apple in your area is already making the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11. The latest addition to the list is the iPhone 13. Earlier on Monday, Apple confirmed the local integration of the iPhone 13 at its Foxconn location in Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
The local production of the iPhone 13 responds directly to the Indian government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) system.
“We are excited to start making the iPhone 13 – with its beautiful design, advanced camera and video camera systems, and the amazing performance of the A15 Bionic chip – right here in India for our local customers,” the Cupertino-based technology giant means an official statement addressed to India Today Tech.
The company has not yet confirmed when locally made iPhones will be available for purchase on the market.
Now that the iPhone 13 is about to be “Made in India”, the question is – will the price of the model go down in the country? The answer is probably not. Or, maybe yes. It all depends on the situation.
The iPhone 13 currently starts at Rs 79,900 with a basic version with 128GB of storage. The price goes up to Rs 1,09,900 with a high-end model with 512GB of storage. The 256GB version of the iPhone model comes at a price of Rs 89,900.
By making the iPhone 13 in India, Apple will certainly be able to save 20 percent import duty, which could affect the price of the model over time. However, no immediate financial changes are to be expected.
It is not uncommon for Apple to master the global pricing of the local market, although India is one of the most important markets for the product. Remember, Apple did not officially lower the prices of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 even when these models were integrated locally.
However, the company has partnered with other banks to offer discounts. It may be the case with the iPhone 13 as well, but nothing has been confirmed so far.
Another reason why domestic production does not affect the prices of the iPhone 13 in India is that the model will only be collected locally and there is no local acquisition. As a result, production costs do not really go down, even in the case of local production.
A third reason why local production may not be priced for the iPhone 13 is due to demand. According to a Business Today report, Foxconn has already begun assembling the iPhone 13 but with smaller prices.
“Apple will continue to import iPhone 13 units for home use, but Foxconn will increase production of the iPhone 13 in the coming months to meet domestic demand,” the report said.
Therefore, in order to meet the demand, the company still needs to rely less on other imported units in the market. And this may not affect prices much.
According to a Counterpoint study, technology company Cupertino recorded sales of 2.3 million units in Q4 2021, up 34 percent over the previous year.
With the addition of iPhones to the Make in India system, it will strengthen Apple’s grip on the world’s second-largest smartphone market in the coming years.
Significantly, the company currently produces only vanilla and Pros models, probably because the integration of Pro models is a little more complicated.
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