The Indian government has reportedly asked Apple for more in-depth details about what it offers in terms of job creation and investment, in exchange for the government offering it additional tax concessions within the country.
Apple’s been seeking tax concessions to set manufacturing facilities in India for some time, but has been rebuffed. Now that one of Apple’s suppliers, Wistron, is officially building iPhones in the country, it seems the Indian government is ready to reconsider. Maybe.
Apple is giving iPhone retailers in India permission to slash prices in a bid to boost sales.
Even the company’s older handsets are still too expensive for the vast majority of local consumers, and sales are suffering as a result. Apple has no choice but to cut prices if it wants to be successful in one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone markets.
To encourage manufacturing in India, Indian authorities have offered to let Apple import smartphone components for use in local manufacturing, tax free.
Apple previously asked for a 15-year tax holiday from paying tax on importing components it needed for Indian manufacturing. The request was denied by authorities, but it seems that a compromise may be reached, whereby Apple will gradually increase the local production of components in India.
Apple manufacturing partner Wistron has started work producing iPhone SE models in India at its factory in Bangalore. The handsets are set to ship to customers later this month, most likely as soon as next week.
While no pricing has yet been announced, Apple is reportedly likely to charge significantly less than the $399 and $499 it sells the 32GB and 128GB iPhone SE models for in the United States. In an effort to grow its brand in India, pricing could be as low as $220.
Apple is constantly talking up the importance of India as a growth market, and a new report from Kantar Wordpanel illustrates exactly why that is.
According to the report, smartphone penetration hit a 48 percent growth rate in the first quarter of 2017. That’s considerably up from the 16 percent growth rate seen one year earlier. In a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, that’s a massive target market!
Apple’s Q2 earnings report for 2017 just barely beat Wall Street’s expectations when the numbers were revealed this afternoon, but there are plenty of reasons to still be optimistic about AAPL.
During the company’s call with investors today, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri discussed some of the struggles the company experienced last quarter, from slumping iPhone sales to economic headwinds in China.
Here are the biggest takeaways:
Apple today introduced two new low-cost pricing tiers for macOS and iOS apps sold in Europe. The change comes as price increases came into effect in Tuesday morning’s refresh as a result of exchange rate fluctuations.
Apple will open an online store in India to start selling iPhones, which it may begin making locally within the next couple of week.
Selling iPhones it makes in India is Apple’s first big step in competing for market share in a country with rapidly growing smartphone sales.
Apple’s brand new App Accelerator in Bengaluru, India, is officially open for business!
Plans for the 40,000-square-foot office space were first announced by Tim Cook during his visit to India last year. The App Accelerator’s purpose is to offer guidance, inspiration, tutorials, and feedback to local developers building iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and Mac OS apps.
Apple may not have received the tax concessions it was hoping for in India, but that’s not slowing down plans to begin manufacturing iPhones in the country.
According to a new report, Apple is set to start making iPhones in India within the next two months, and potentially as soon as 4 weeks’ time.
