Tech giant Apple is reportedly planning to make the India-built iPhone 15 available in the country and some other regions on its global sales debut day.
While the vast majority of iPhone 15 going on global shelves will come from China, this would be the first time a latest generation, made-in-India device would be available on the first day of sale, sources told Bloomberg.
The development comes as the Cupertino, California-based company was reported to be planning to launch the iPhone 15 around the same time in India as its global launch, removing the usual lag between the global and Indian launch.
Apple’s move also underscores India’s growing production capabilities and a departure from its strategy of selling mostly China-made devices to customers across the world. The new iPhone 15 is expected to go on sale in the days or weeks after its unveiling, slated for 10:30 PM IST on Tuesday (September 12).
The tech giant began iPhone 15 production at Foxconn’s factory in Tamil Nadu last month. Other Apple suppliers in India, including Pegatron and Wistron, will also likely start the assembly of the iPhone 15 shortly.
However, according to sources cited by Bloomberg, there might be slight delays with the India-built iPhone 15 because of logistics bottlenecks. Apple is set to introduce the iPhone 15, updated watches and AirPods during the gala event at its headquarters in Cupertino today.
Sales of new Apple products typically begin around 10 days after the unveiling.
Before iPhone 14, Apple assembled just a fraction of its global output in India, which lagged behind China production by six to nine months. However, the rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, along with the supply chain disruptions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, forced the tech giant to ramp up production in India. The delay, as a result, was reduced drastically to just weeks.
The Centre’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones also played a part in the company moving its production to India.
Consequently, Apple increased the percentage of iPhones made in India to 7% at the end of March this year.
It also became the largest smartphone exporter in India. In 2022-23, Apple manufactured over $7.5 Bn of iPhones in India, of which around $5 Bn were exported, making it the country’s single largest mobile phone exporter.
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