Let iPhone 15 be dearer in India...
India can't seem to see the point in their preferred phones being made in India, yet costing more. And, yet, that is precisely the point. It doesn't matter that iPhones are expensive in the country as long as more of them are made here.
The world — and not just India — is the market for factories looking to ship out of China that India, as also a host of other countries, are inviting to set up shop. Admittedly, India has a bigger local market than most competing economies for everything from aeroplanes to computer chips. But that is a secondary consideration for multinational companies seeking supply chain resilience.
What matters more is that India provides a cost-effective and stable environment for planned investments. Value, not number of units, is the name of the game.
iPhones assembled in India are still expensive to make because of imported components that customs duty makes dearer. India has erected tariff barriers for inputs for the electronic industry to provide it protection against cheap imports.
India also taxes finished iPhones at a higher rate. On its part, Apple tries to sell discounted older-generation iPhones in a market overwhelmingly dominated by cheaper Android handsets. All these contribute to making the latest iPhone, even if assembled in the country, more expensive.
The gap really opens up for models being imported whole.
Apple's contract manufacturers in India receive PLIs from GoI. Those, however, do not offset import duties on inputs. Until such time as Apple builds a local ecosystem of suppliers, Made-in-India iPhones will be at some cost disadvantage to those made in, say, China or Vietnam.
