Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India • Hacker News Board

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#51

Post by jrockway » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:16 AM UTC

dmitriid wrote: post #49

Alterlife wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a 64 GB iPhone X is currently selling for around 1100 dollars. That isn't right. The iPhone X costs (just under) 1,00,000 INR retail in India, which is over 1400 usd. This includes taxes. For reference: https://www.flipkart.com/mobiles/apple~brand/pr?sid=tyy,4io&

That’s what Apple usually does: they keep roughly the same digits, and change the currency. And it usually makes their products significantly more expensive outside of the US. I live in Sweden, and the pricing will go like this: - The US: $999 - The EU: €999 - Sweden: 9900 SEK Depending on currency rates, it can become up to 30% more expensive. My favorite discovery was around the time of the trashcan MacPro. It was…

Canada: $1379. (On the $999-in-the-US iPhone XS.)

They do not always use the round numbers.

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#52

Post by Theodores » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:19 AM UTC

ulfw wrote: post #40

This is so against globalisation and global trade it‘s not even funny. Totally cool if Apple did this voluntarily, but the only reason they‘re doing it is to prevent high import taxes. India is a huge market. So it‘s all good. Brazil is a good deal smaller and requires the same thing. So does Argentina (and is even smaller). Now imagine every country would do this.

> India is a huge market.

There was a time when the British destroyed the textiles trade in India and made everyone buy stuff made in Manchester. Before that India had 25% or so of the global market.

With a billion or so people living in the sub-continent there should be an indigenous mobile phone and eco-system that suits the market better than what Silicon Valley can provide. China can do it, Europe used to be able to do it. It is not as if India is short of highly educated software engineers. If, instead of everyone in India having an Indian mobile phone, everyone has an iPhone then everyone is going to be sending off a portion of their wealth off to Cupertino (even if that money ends up in off shore tax havens).

There are national security issues with this, regardless of how well Apple claim they are on the side of privacy. Just for sovereignty reasons the Indian government should be using heir own tech instead of providing incentives for Apple to set up shop.

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#53

Post by tinus_hn » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:22 AM UTC

happybuy wrote: post #50

This illustrates why all of those stories[1] about why Apple can't manufacture in the USA are relatively hollow. Apple doesn't manufacture in the US as they are not forced to manufacture in the US. If they were, they'd make it happen and work-around any issues, just as they have in India. Apple doesn't want to manufacture in India (via Foxconn) but the Indian regulations and government didn't budge which forced Apple…

However there would be a lot less choice because not all Android phone manufacturers are going to bother and the prices are going to go up because of less competition and higher costs for everyone. Also consider that other countries are going to respond to this kind of protectionism which is not free.

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#54

Post by tinus_hn » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:26 AM UTC

deepGem wrote: post #8

Man, finally this came along. Apple had been negotiating for almost 3 years to setup manufacturing in India. Foxconn got a start in the outskirts of Bangalore where they manufacture iPhone SEs. I as a customer am super glad this is coming along. Tired of paying a premium for Apple products in India. In addition to iPhones I seriously hope they start iPad manufacturing as well. IMHO iPads will probably have a better s…

If it were cheaper to build iPhones in India Apple would have been doing that from the start. If you’re lucky prices will remain the same but they probably will go up.

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#55

Post by tonyedgecombe » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:35 AM UTC

Alterlife wrote: post #44

ulfw wrote: post #40

This is so against globalisation and global trade it‘s not even funny. Totally cool if Apple did this voluntarily, but the only reason they‘re doing it is to prevent high import taxes. India is a huge market. So it‘s all good. Brazil is a good deal smaller and requires the same thing. So does Argentina (and is even smaller). Now imagine every country would do this.

In some ways, every third-world country in the world SHOULD do this. I say this as an Indian iPhone user. iPhones are a luxury product. A tax on imported high end electronics is a tax on the well-off. Not only that, it's the best kind - a tax that an end-user can choose whether or not they want to pay.

In most ways they shouldn't, poorer countries have been doing rather well out of globalisation. If trade wars started all over the world they would suffer the most.

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#56

Post by _pmf_ » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:35 AM UTC

Good for everybody when knowledge to produce high end electronics at scale is not exclusive to China.

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#57

Post by andy_ppp » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:45 AM UTC

ulfw wrote: post #40

This is so against globalisation and global trade it‘s not even funny. Totally cool if Apple did this voluntarily, but the only reason they‘re doing it is to prevent high import taxes. India is a huge market. So it‘s all good. Brazil is a good deal smaller and requires the same thing. So does Argentina (and is even smaller). Now imagine every country would do this.

Even America wants some of the high end manufacturing jobs back...

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#58

Post by ignoramous » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:46 AM UTC

tinus_hn wrote: post #54

deepGem wrote: post #8

Man, finally this came along. Apple had been negotiating for almost 3 years to setup manufacturing in India. Foxconn got a start in the outskirts of Bangalore where they manufacture iPhone SEs. I as a customer am super glad this is coming along. Tired of paying a premium for Apple products in India. In addition to iPhones I seriously hope they start iPad manufacturing as well. IMHO iPads will probably have a better s…

If it were cheaper to build iPhones in India Apple would have been doing that from the start. If you’re lucky prices will remain the same but they probably will go up.

> Tired of paying a premium for Apple products in India.

I might be wrong but, I think, OP might be referencing to the fact that phones manufactured in India are exempt from import tarrifs (cross trade avg of around 14%).

https://www.export.gov/article?id=India-Import-Tariffs

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#59

Post by mrunkel » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:46 AM UTC

dmitriid wrote: post #49

Alterlife wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a 64 GB iPhone X is currently selling for around 1100 dollars. That isn't right. The iPhone X costs (just under) 1,00,000 INR retail in India, which is over 1400 usd. This includes taxes. For reference: https://www.flipkart.com/mobiles/apple~brand/pr?sid=tyy,4io&

That’s what Apple usually does: they keep roughly the same digits, and change the currency. And it usually makes their products significantly more expensive outside of the US. I live in Sweden, and the pricing will go like this: - The US: $999 - The EU: €999 - Sweden: 9900 SEK Depending on currency rates, it can become up to 30% more expensive. My favorite discovery was around the time of the trashcan MacPro. It was…

Including VAT and import duties? I find that very hard to believe.

Re: Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India

#60

Post by ido » Tue, Apr 16, 2019, 6:57 AM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #51

dmitriid wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s what Apple usually does: they keep roughly the same digits, and change the currency. And it usually makes their products significantly more expensive outside of the US. I live in Sweden, and the pricing will go like this: - The US: $999 - The EU: €999 - Sweden: 9900 SEK Depending on currency rates, it can become up to 30% more expensive. My favorite discovery was around the time of the trashcan MacPro. It was…

Canada: $1379. (On the $999-in-the-US iPhone XS.) They do not always use the round numbers.

Seeing as most Canadians live near the US border maybe they go closer to American prices there as there's a lower barrier for Canadians to cut the fat margins by crossing the border and buying in the US?