Make In India: Wistron To Begin Apple iPhone Assembly Soon

Apple iPhone components manufacturing in India might soon witness a big push. Wistron Corp from Taiwan is reportedly planning to assemble printed circuit boards (PCB) for iPhone at its new manufacturing plant in India. The assembly of PCBs in India will be the first for the contractor and would push Apple manufacturing in the second-biggest smartphone market.

Apple Components Units In India

Wistron began its Apple contract in India when it began making the iPhone SE model in its Bengaluru unit back in 2017. The unit currently assembles the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 models here. Wistron's second iPhone plant is situated about 65km from Bengaluru and is expected to begin operations in April, Reuters reports. This would bring in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 8 models to the assembling unit.

Wistron is an important firm for Apple's PCB assembly. A PCB houses key components like memory units, processors, and wireless chipsets. Once fully assembled, the PCB makes up to half the cost of the total unit. The upcoming Wistron facility is capable of producing 8 million smartphones a year.

Wistron is part of the Katakana state government's proposal for Rs. 30 billion investment in 2018. The increasing number of PCB assembling units in India is also a big help for the iPhone maker to surpass the import tax imposed by the Indian government. Plus, local manufacturing aims to create more jobs, a win-win for all.

Make In India

Wistron isn't the only company working with Apple for PCB assembly. Foxconn, a rival to Wistron has been making the iPhone XR locally and even assembles the PCBs for these devices in India. While most of the iPhone production units are located in China, Apple has been expanding its production centers to India.

Moreover, the trade war between China and the US has opened new doors in India for companies like Apple to bring in their assembly units here. However, India remains largely dependent on China for crucial smartphone supplies like display panels, cells, camera modules, and printed circuit boards.

According to a market research report by Counterpoint, Apple's premium devices have proven too costly for the Indian audience, even with 1.1 billion wireless connections and 480 million smartphone users. However, as the company begins its assembly operations here, it could bring down the price and gain popularity among users.