Make in India: Apple starts manufacturing iPhone 11 at Foxconn Chennai plant

Apple has started assembling the high-end iPhone 11 smartphone at its Foxconn plant in Chennai, as per Economic Times reports. As per the report, Apple plans to increase production in a phased manner. The units from the Foxconn Chennai plant can be shipped to other markets.

Apple is also looking forward to assembling its new iPhone SE 2020 at its Wistron plant in Bengaluru. If the report is right, this is the first time Apple is manufacturing one of its most premium handsets in India.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted the move as a "Significant boost to Make in India!"

Apple has slowly scaled up it's manufacturing in India. It already produces Apple iPhone 6s, iPhone 7 and iPhone XR in India.

In an earnings call in May 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "I think India is a very important market in the long-term. It's a challenging market in the short-term. But we're learning a lot. We have started manufacturing there, which is very important to be able to serve the market in a reasonable way. And we're growing that capability there."

This step will help Apple reduce its dependence on China in the long run. Apple has also considered Vietnam as one of its top manufacturing hubs apart from India. Apple's decision to manufacture the iPhone 11 in India may also depend on the Indian government's decision to ease rules for its Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

The government is also in talks with Pegatron, one of the top Apple's manufacturing partners, to relocate few of its manufacturing units to India, as per reports.