Tech maestro Apple has begun assembling smartphones in India. According to the Wall Street Journal, a trial run of the phone’s assembly line had been completed earlier this month.
Apple is focusing on India due to its large market and cheap labor. iPhone intends to tackle its slow growth globally through Indian market.
Apple will, however, confront few hurdles in capturing Indian smartphone market which include legal issues and competition with local smartphone manufacturers and pre-existing brands.
Indian law requires Apple to sourcing 30 percent of the components of smartphone from within the country.
The smartphone market in India is currently dominated by Chinese manufacturers that claim almost 50 percent of the market share.
Moreover, the arch-rival of Apple, Samsung is another large smartphone seller in India. On the contrary, Apple holds only 2 percent market share.
Also Read: Samsung beats Apple with the most smartphones sold worldwide
Assembling iPhone from India is a wise strategic move by the company because it will help the company to meet the local sourcing requirements.
Despite the recent success of Apple being able to assemble its phone in India, its legal spat with Chipmaking Company Qualcomm has intensified also. The chip making company in a fresh legal spat with Apple has also sued four companies, that supply components to Apple for its products.
The chip making company has said that these companies are also not paying royalty payments due to an instruction from Apple not to pay anything to the company.
Rumors are also circulating that Apple is also launching its new iPhone 8 later this year.