Apple manufacturer Foxconn has started building iPhone 11 units at a facility near Chennai in India, said TechCrunch, the first time Apple has made one of its top-level phones in India.
Since 2017 , Apple has manufactured lower-priced iPhone models in India, and has reportedly been considering moving production of its more expensive models there for some time.
In 2019 India became the world's second-biggest smartphone market, ahead of the US and second only to China. Apple plans to ramp up production in India, according to TechCrunch, which will in turn minimize how much it relies on China, where most of its iPhones are currently produced.
And although Apple tops India's premium smartphone segment, it only has about 1 percent of the total smartphone market there. The price of the iPhone brings this out of reach for many Indian consumers.
Apple will be able to escape a 20 per cent import duty that India places on foreign-made products by selling locally-made gadgets in India. If the devices are being produced for sale only within India, or for the broader world market, it is not clear.
Apple did not answer a request for comment immediately on Saturday.
