Make in India: Apple started trial production of iPhone 6s Plus

It's been reported for a long time that Cupertino-based tech giant Apple is planning to start the production of its iPhone 6s Plus in India. Now, the company has already begun the trial production of iPhone 6s Plus which was one of the best selling models in the country.

The trial production is running at tech city Bengaluru, Wistron the contract manufacturer will lead the price correction. It has set up a new assembly for the production of iPhone 6s Plus. The commercial production is expected to start in the next couple of weeks. According to the executives, the production of iPhone 6s Plus in India will cut down its prices by 5-7 percent.

The price cut will make it more competitive with the Chinese smartphone company's like OnePlus and also some premium models of Samsung. The rise in customs duty pushed the tech giant to start the local production in the country "Thanks to current government".

"However, the price correction may not be reflected immediately since Wistron will not be able to fully meet the entire requirement of iPhone 6s Plus in India and imports from China will continue," said one of the executive. "Eventually, as the local capacity gains scale the prices will get corrected." Emails sent to Apple India and Wistron did not elicit any response as of press time Thursday.

The one-third of total sales of iPhones in India in 2017 was contributed by the iPhone 6 series, whereas less than 15 percent was generated from the iPhone SE, which is the only iPhone model assembling locally in the Wistron plan till now.

Local assembly of iPhone SE has helped a lot in preventing the prices hick by 6-7 percent. Apple has also started discussing with its vendors and contract manufacturers like Flex, Foxconn and Wistron to expand sourcing in India.

The Indian government has imposed a 10% customs duty earlier this month on components like printed circuit boards populated with memory and chips, camera modules and connectors. Meanwhile, Apple has joined their hands with the local partners in India, including chargers, adapters and box packaging.

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Apple has also added Finland-based Salcomp's facility in Tamil Nadu and China-based Shenzhen YUTO Packaging Technology plant in Bengaluru for global sourcing.