Late last year, Reuters reported that Apple will be assembling its premium top-end phones in India soon. But the company did not respond to media queries. However, it is now confirmed as the iPhone XR with ‘Assembled in India’ tag is being sold at stores across the country.
It is a pretty good move by Apple both politically and economically due to the ongoing trade war between the US and China. Apple and other tech companies have been looking to assemble their devices in other countries especially in India for a long time to reduce their dependence on China. Due to the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ programme, almost all the phones sold in the country are now locally assembled here. Even the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturing plant which is owned by Samsung is located in India.
On the other hand, Apple has been suffering intense competition from the likes of OnePlus and Samsung for a couple of years now. However, Apple has responded by lowering prices of its new phones. Currently, the iPhone XR starts at ₹49,900 which is equivalent to the price of OnePlus 7T Pro.
Will Apple even lower the price of iPhone XR as they are now locally assembled here in India? Only time will tell and if it happens, it will surely make one of Apple’s most affordable handsets in India even more affordable.