Not China It’s Chennai: Apple Starts Manufacturing Of Iphone 11 In India

A win for the government Aatamnirbhar India initiative, tech giant Apple has started producing one of its flagship devices, the iPhone 11, at Chennai’s Foxconn plant. This is the first time Apple has manufactured a top-of-the-line model in India. The company also has plans to make the iPhone SE 2020 in India in its Wistron plant near Bangalore.

This could possibly pave the way for the company’s top-of-the-line devices becoming available in India at lower prices because this precludes the huge Customs duties applied to them.

On Friday, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad lauded the move, hailing it as an affirmation of the government’s push towards an “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal announced the news on Twitter on Friday. Goyal wrote, “Significant boost to Make in India! Apple has started manufacturing iPhone 11 in India, bringing a top-of-the-line model for the first time in the country.”

Prior to this, the Cupertino-based tech giant had started assembling the iPhone XR in India in 2019. In 2017, Apple had started the domestic manufacturing of the Apple iPhone SE 2016 in the Bangalore plant.

Sources said this could be the beginning of a new era for Apple that is preparing to begin manufacturing its newly launched iPhone SE (2nd Generation) of handsets in India.

The cheapest handset in Apple’s cart, with a launch price beginning at Rs 42,500, is expected to drive iPhone sales during the current quarter before the next flagship is launched in late September.