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Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

m.economictimes.com

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Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#11
post #8
post #2

I’d be curious to know which parts of the manufacturing process are carried out in India. I assume it includes “final assembly”. But does all CNC work, PCB assembly happen in India? PCB assembly in particular, seems unlikely? The supply chains are all in China, and it’s a largely automated procsss.

Apple already uses multiple suppliers for each stage of production, so shipping production lines to other countries wouldn't be that difficult. Beyond that you'd just be sourcing bulk components, which I'm sure their Chinese suppliers will happily ship to India. Raw materials like the aluminum could be locally sourced.

> which I'm sure their Chinese suppliers will happily ship to India

That's a good point. The requirements seems to be about locally sourcing components, not locally manufacturing them. It's entirely possible for a Chinese company to have a subsidiary in India that's supplying components to Apple.

Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#12
While this is great news for India, it is sort of expected. Chinese mobile companies have been manufacturing in India and produce 80-90% of their phones locally.

There are clear benefits for Apple here. China, as a manufacturing destination, has become less attractive due to rising wages and US-China trade war. Higher wages are good for Chinese people but not great for manufacturing. India is a cheaper destination and the recent government has been very business friendly. India now ranks 77th in the ease of doing business compared to 130th a few years ago. India has heavily invested in building out basic infrastructure like roads and power. It has also cracked down on corruption and a lot of government services have been digitized to reduce opportunities for corruption. Combined with a cheap labor force that speaks English is a great recipe for anybody looking to manufacture goods at a cheap price. Escaping the US-China trade war is a side benefit for Apple.

Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#13

Is there any concern that the PRC issues are just a symptom of a developing nation bootstrapping? What are the chances that India does the same? Obviously China has some specific cultural issues but it might be hard for developing nations to resist the temptation to steal Western tech.

I believe India has had a better track record than China as far as IP is concerned. The only concern I would have is India's patent laws are different from the US. Evergreening of drugs has been repeatedly rejected.

Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been hard for me to find a definitive number [1], and what that actually means, but it looks like to labeled something as "made in India" companies are required to have 30% of the final product locally sourced. [1] https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-techn... I linked this article because the bit at the bottom: > According to the foreign direct investment rules [...] “sourcing of 30 per cent o…

I feel like getting to 30% of the value would be a stretch if the ICs, PCB assembly, and possibly screen are coming from China and Taiwan/TSMC. Like, the case and battery are worth something, but not tons.

It's pretty easy to value custom built components whatever you like.

They are either very cheap components, but you paid a massive r&d grant to have them designed for you, or they are very expensive components but you paid no r&d costs.

Choose whatever suits to best avoid taxes, quotas, fees, and regulations...

Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#15
post #5

As a mother who recently found out that the Chinese communist party has been snatching kids away from their Uighur mothers and fathers and placed in Chinese concentration camps to be brainwashed, and thus have decided to stop buying any and all ‘made in China’ products whenever possible. I just want to say Thank you to any and all corporations that are moving out of China. It will make my shopping easier.

" Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Please don't create accounts to break the site guidelines with.

Thanks for not letting this old lady have a say :) I am sure your mom is proud of you

Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#16

Is there any concern that the PRC issues are just a symptom of a developing nation bootstrapping? What are the chances that India does the same? Obviously China has some specific cultural issues but it might be hard for developing nations to resist the temptation to steal Western tech.

it might be hard for developing nations to resist the temptation to steal Western tech.

IMO this contains a major misconception: that any country/region/etc that takes on a production role does not also intrinsically gain competency in that kind of production. If company X goes to country Y to produce a product, then X is "teaching" Y how to do that kind of production, period. No "stealing" necessary. This is a big part of a positive feedback cycle that has driven China's current manufacturing base. Not just China – I've seen it cited in a few places that Apple itself, by heavily relying on Samsung as an early iPhone supplier, helped significantly to establish Samsung as a major smartphone competitor.

Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#17

It would be Courageous to move all production out of the PRC, or any other totalitarian state. Interesting to note the article mentions iPhone 6, 6s and 7. I wouldn't have guessed these were still in production!

iPhone 6 is surprising indeed, because upcoming iOS 13 does not support it. Selling devices which will stop updating in a few months sounds very bad.

Re: Apple begins exporting India-made iPhones to European markets

#18

While this is great news for India, it is sort of expected. Chinese mobile companies have been manufacturing in India and produce 80-90% of their phones locally. There are clear benefits for Apple here. China, as a manufacturing destination, has become less attractive due to rising wages and US-China trade war. Higher wages are good for Chinese people but not great for manufacturing. India is a cheaper destination an…

Water scarcity is going to be a problem.
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