Will Apple ever be mainstream in India??

They are always north of 1/2 a lakh, even when 2 Generations old. Just an overpriced/status symbol device for people. In my office almost 90% carry these phones--well even I did, then learnt the lesson of life.
Where were those iphones made and whether there is a price saving if they are made locally instead?
 
Where were those iphones made and whether there is a price saving if they are made locally instead?
Yes, on the one hand localisation is increasing, and that saves direct cost as well as taxes. But on the other hand apple wants high margin to signify "class", so the reduction in prices will be limited.
 
I don't think majority would care about iOS ecosystem or security. I also don't think people chose Android because it's more secure or open source or Linux kernel.

If Apple make iPhone cheaper like Redmi (10-20k range) then I am sure everybody will jump ship. So yeah, price is the only factor here. That's the only reason why Xiaomi became so big.
If everybody can buy an iPhone, nobody will have ‘the iPhone’.
 
Even when this happens dont expect the phone to cost 10k or so cheaper...
That is what I was wondering.

Making in India generally means a lower purchase price with no import duty

If that does not happen then Apple is not going to become mainstream but remain niche
 
That is what I was wondering.

Making in India generally means a lower purchase price with no import duty

If that does not happen then Apple is not going to become mainstream but remain niche
Mate, apple has been making iPhones in India for many years now. There's been no price saving given to the customers. It'll never happen. Because it had nothing to do cost savings.

Everyone is keeping china + 1 (that's mostly indonesia/vietnam) policy for geopolitical reasons. Apple, has china + 2 policy for superior geopolitical reasons. That's why they have factory in India and vietnam outside of the China.

If everybody can buy an iPhone, nobody will have ‘the iPhone’.
Yeah, everyone can already buy an iphone thanks to Bajaj finance. I have seen it in the hands of folks who are barely making the ends meet.
Top 5%, I'd say
So you are saying I live among top 5%?

Bhendi mere poco ki display phat gayi hai yaha pe.
 
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SO if it was 2017 then too. we were buying those older phones in at kidneys so whats the use?
Its as good as assembling in India which it is anyways doing since many yrs..

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ROFL! :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy:
 
That is what I was wondering.

Making in India generally means a lower purchase price with no import duty
My office sent new iPhone 14 to my colleague that was assembled in India. They paid the full retail price as seen on apple india site/amazon.

If they continue to assume as some niche luxury BS. They'll never become mainstream unless other markets begin to saturate and lose volume.
 
Assembly != Manufacturing
I suppose they still got to pay duties on importing the components.
Import duties applicable for parts is lesser than the whole unit. It's also why some cars are imported as CKD instead of CBU.

Most of the phones sold in India have 'made in India' tag (Maybe pixels and ultra pro max iphones are the exceptions). Technically, all of them are made in china but brought in India so the parts could be screwed together using made in india screws. It's a govt initiative under 'make in india' to promote indian screws.
 
What is the difference ?
Assembly plants are also huge. Realistically speaking, assembly is not as simple as putting parts together. There's a lot to be done there as well, especially in compact devices like mobile phones. So it does provide employment to a lot of people. Samsung's Noida assembly plant employs close to 10000 people.

Encouraging manufacturing requires building of the entire supply chain, which really difficult to do. Encouraging assembly is easier as finished components can be imported and assembled here. So government allows import of components by paying a much smaller import duty. For instance, import duty on phones is 20% but on components it can be as low as 2.5%.
 
What is the difference ?
Oh dude, understanding India's GST and import duty structure is complicated than rocket science.

Quick googling. The import duty is 22% on completely built mobile handsets. (GST not included). For parts, it changes from part to part.


Display taxed at 10%. If you attach a fingerprint sensor to it then it's 15%. It it's monday then add 5% cess. Rate doubles on mota bhai's birthday.
 
Assembly plants are also huge. Realistically speaking, assembly is not as simple as putting parts together. There's a lot to be done there as well, especially in compact devices like mobile phones. So it does provide employment to a lot of people. Samsung's Noida assembly plant employs close to 10000 people.

Encouraging manufacturing requires building of the entire supply chain, which really difficult to do. Encouraging assembly is easier as finished components can be imported and assembled here. So government allows import of components by paying a much smaller import duty. For instance, import duty on phones is 20% but on components it can be as low as 2.5%.
I was asking about the difference between the duties of the parts vis-a-vis the complete phone. I thought it was 22% for phones and anywhere between 2.5% to 20% for the components. My point was it is a factor in India pricing today even if you assemble it here and not even comparable to countries like Korea where iphones are the cheapest. Then there are also the exchange rates to be factored in.
If we really want it to go mainstream, the per capita income will need to radically come up (something you have already touched upon) to match other countries and the duties will need to come down at the same time or they need to "manufacture" it end-to-end here.
 
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For electronics to become cheaper, we have 2 options:
  • Setup the entire supply chain and manufacture it end to end here. Make no mistakes, this is not only about materials, but also skills. Skilled workers are not easy to come by and specialised manufacturing facilities for small electronic components require a lot of skilled labour.
  • Develop exports of industries in which we already possess expertise to compensate for imports of other goods. Unfortunately we've been giving way in IT services and garments, which are our major exports as of now. It's very important to maintain these. Again requires upskilling and R&D.
 
Not just cost, imagine tied only to apple softwares like itunes, icloud etc. for there so called security reasons.
Even truecaller doesn't work flawlessly let be other apps.
Android isn't insecure in any ways and just that its open-source doesn't mean it sucks or lacks integrity. Remember its on Linux kernel which is the most trustworthy...
Truecaller not doing what it does on iOS is a good thing. Truecaller has basically built its entire company around snooping on people's data as much as possible on Android, so definitely one of the worst examples. It works fine on iOS for the limited, most prominent offline spam data set, and it is generally not a problem. I never pick up unknown numbers upfront, do a manual search on the Truecaller app later and call back if necessary.

I don't use any other solution from Apple's ecosystem. All images upload fine on OneDrive as they are taken. I am on YT Music now but used Spotify in the past. I don't use Apple TV at all. Basically I haven't spent a buck more on Apple than purchasing my iPhone 12 mini for 34k during a sale, which is basically what one of my colleagues paid for a Pixel 6a, who has been regretting it ever since. In general, it is stupid to overpay for phones and to lock yourself in an ecosystem, unless you see a lot of tangible benefits.

I don't think majority would care about iOS ecosystem or security. I also don't think people chose Android because it's more secure or open source or Linux kernel.

If Apple make iPhone cheaper like Redmi (10-20k range) then I am sure everybody will jump ship. So yeah, price is the only factor here. That's the only reason why Xiaomi became so big.
Market share is not everything. Apple surpassed Xiaomi's profits in India back in 2018 and the gap has only increased since then. Xiaomi would probably kill to have those profit margins, rather than battling in the tight lower-end of the market.

Apple is probably happy guarding its margins and doesn't need to become mainstream, considering it has a good share of the premium phone market with healthy profit margins. It also kind of reflects the US market where people with a certain disposable income are more inclined to purchase an iPhone. Rather than aiming down, I suppose Apple is holding hope that the Indian market will move upwards, like it did in China, where it has now beaten all the Chinese manufacturers which are extremely localized, in a price-conscious market.
 
Truecaller not doing what it does on iOS is a good thing. Truecaller has basically built its entire company around snooping on people's data as much as possible on Android, so definitely one of the worst examples. It works fine on iOS for the limited, most prominent offline spam data set, and it is generally not a problem. I never pick up unknown numbers upfront, do a manual search on the Truecaller app later and call back if necessary.
You know, Apple's privacy policy with truecaller isn't unique to iPhones. It can perfectly be applied to Android too. You DON'T have to give it all of the permissions on android. And it'll work just like how it works on iPhone. You can also do manual search on android's truecaller. STOP saying it's android's fault that it let's users do more with their phones. You can perfectly choose not to do more and it'll behave just like how it does on iPhones.

STOP saying truecaller snoops on users' data. We willingly gave it the freakin access in the first place. THAT's how it's supposed to work. The spam filters and other data aren't created auto-magically by angels who fly down from the heaven. It is created by us, fed by us, managed by us, the android users. It's a community effort. So next time, when you are freeloading on the data created by Android users, try to be a bit more gracious towards them.

Manually checking spam maybe works great for you. I really wished it was that simple for me too. But stop stereotyping, not everyone has your life. For some of us, if we don't auto block spam we won't be able to work or sleep. We, unfortunately, don't live in idealistic society where everyone receives spam call only once in a week. I'm paying for TC in its second year, now with a family plan. And I don't regret it.

Market share is not everything. Apple surpassed Xiaomi's profits in India back in 2018 and the gap has only increased since then. Xiaomi would probably kill to have those profit margins, rather than battling in the tight lower-end of the market.
It's a clickbait news written by a tech illiterate to fill her monthly quota. She didn't know that Xiaomi limits its net profit margins to 5% as a company policy. It's a common knowledge. We don't need to know 50 different reasons why Xiaomi has less profit margin than Apple.
 
Let's try this one again shall we
My office sent new iPhone 14 to my colleague that was assembled in India. They paid the full retail price as seen on apple india site/amazon.
I am saying until recently iPhones, the latest model had to be imported cost more in India than abroad. In fact, it was cheaper to import them yourself through the post office than pay local prices.

Whether making in India means you will pay a similar price as in the US which is the case with the Korean top end for a decade now

I'm looking for parity with US prices which has to be less than you had to pay here before
If they continue to assume as some niche luxury BS. They'll never become mainstream unless other markets begin to saturate and lose volume.
Yes and with time they might introduce India-only versions that work with the market here. I'd not be surprised if they have something in the pipeline already.

India-only versions will be a hit and end up being exported abroad to other markets.

If the price is still as high as it was in the past there are more kinks to work out.

I remember Tim Cook in 2015 whining about all sorts of thing when Samsung was already making the Note series in India.

Samsung was making their top end phones in India by 2015 yet the best Apple could aspire to at the time was an iPhone 6 :wideyed:

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SO if it was 2017 then too. we were buying those older phones in at kidneys so whats the use?
Its as good as assembling in India which it is anyways doing since many yrs..

View attachment 166223

ROFL! :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy:
I've heard commentators remark 50% of Appl'e output will be made in India not 25%

It starts off as Make for India and then becomes Make for the World. With time India becomes an important part of the global supply chain.

It's not about replacing China entirely but having a viable alternative that can scale up as needed. The other smaller Asian countries can't do that.
Assembly != Manufacturing
I suppose they still got to pay duties on importing the components.
Bingo! This is the point I'm driving at. If iPhones still cost more here than in the US then they have not completed the process yet.
 
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