Apple is having a hard time maintaining a strong foothold in India. The skyrocketing price of its iPhones has dissuaded the Indian customers from spending big bucks on the costly devices. This, in turn, has affected the company’s bottom line in India. The absence of a budget smartphone – at a time when Chinese manufacturers are offering top specs and camera performance at a considerably low cost – hasn’t helped either.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Apple manufactures iPhone 6S in India at a facility outside Bengaluru.
- The Apple iPhone 6S costs Rs 26,910 in India.
- Apple is promoting iPhone 6S as a part of Made in India campaign
In a bid to boost iPhone sales in the region, Apple has started running ads highlighting that it assembles the iPhone 6s in India. The ‘Make in India’ campaign has been increasingly used by many smartphone OEMs in India to woo patriotic customers who want smartphones assembled in India rather than ones imported from China.
Apple has been assembling the iPhone 6s in India under the Make in India campaign since 2017 now. It first started with the iPhone SE with its supply partner Wistron setting up a factory outside of Bengaluru before expanding it to the iPhone 6s. While old, the iPhone SE and iPhone 6s are still in demand in India especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The handsets are not even listed on Apple’s India website but they continue to be sold across all popular offline and online channels.
Apart from the iPhone SE and iPhone 6s, Wistron recently started assembling the iPhone 7 for Apple in India.
As a part of the ‘Make in India’ push from the Indian government, smartphone OEMs who assemble or manufacture smartphones locally end up saving on custom duties and import taxes which would have otherwise been applicable if they had imported the phones from China.
A new ad campaign, first spotted by a Twitter user Varun Krishnan, indicates that Apple is touting the iPhone 6S as its entry-level smartphone in India and pushing it under the Modi government’s Made in India campaign, which in essence encourages businesses to manufacture goods in India. “The incredible iPhone 6S starting at Rs 26,910 – Now Made in India,” the ad campaign promoting the company’s new entry-level smartphone in India states. Interestingly, Apple’s ad campaign, not only highlights its “Indian-ness” with the “Made in India” tagline and the fact that it is now manufactured at a Wistron facility outside Bengaluru, but it also borrows a punch line from the Ministry of Tourism’s “Incredible India” campaign, which further solidifies its Indian-ness, especially during the election season in India – a time when these words attain a different tone and meaning.
The Made in India push for the iPhone 6S assumes more significance at a time when Apple is trying to set up its Apple Stores in India. At present, the tech giant sells its devices via authorised resellers in the country. But Apple wants to change that by setting up its native Apple Stores in the country.
Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and a number of other Android OEMs already assemble their smartphones under the Make in India campaign.
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