Last week, Apple began assembly of the iPhone SE at a plant in Bengaluru in the Indian state of Karnataka. The smartphone company along with its local OEM partner, Wistron, started assembly of the SE in order to lower the price point and make it more affordable to Indian consumers who are very aware of Apple products but can't always afford them. An assembled-in-India iPhone would have lower taxes and tariffs which would allow Apple to pass those savings on to the consumer in India. All about gaining market share in India, no?
This morning, Reuters is reporting that according to Ravi Shankar Prasad, the central minister for Electronics and IT, Apple has already approached the Indian government to expand Wistron's facilities in Bengaluru. Prasad said that government officials were in touch wth Apple for expanding the facility and setting up new plants.
India is the world's fastest growing smartphone market in the world and at the moment, Apple has a paltry market share in that country solely due to its higher-priced/high end product strategy.
Local assembly/manufacturing will greatly help Apple to make some serious in-roads in India where the market is currently dominated by low-end smartphones from the likes of Oppo and Samsung among others.
The fact that Apple is moving as quickly as it seems to be is a sign of good things to come in India for the company and its shareholders.
After all, with the world's fastest growing smartphone market along with a one of the fastest growing middle-class populations in the world, India is a prize well worth going after.
Words to the wise.
PS: In other Apple related news, the company has settled its long intellectual property (IP) related dispute with Nokia and agreed upon a multi-year patent licensing deal.
(Long aapl, long and short aapl options)
