Apple has serious plans to manufacture iPhone units in India, but is averse with the idea of the country's government meddling with the company's design choices.
Indian law requires all products, including gadgets, to have detailed packaging information stating the name and the address of the importer, packaging date, and the product's maximum retail price, all of which must be physically visible on the product or device itself. Apple doesn't want this to happen, so it's pulling all; the stops to prevent it.
Apple Is Protecting The iPhone's Design
The aforementioned law would disrupt the minimalist aesthetic of Apple's products, according to a report by The Economic Times. The company has officially filed a formal request to the Department of Revenue and Department of Electronics and Information Technology in India in an attempt to exempt itself from the legal requirement.
Apple hopes that the detailed packaging information could instead be included in the software. India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion forwarded the request in November, an official said. Apple has six countries it manufactures products in, with the bulk of them offspringed from China.
In comparison, the back panels of U.S. iPhones also come embedded with regulatory information, sandwiched somewhere alongside the company's famous "Designed by Apple in California" labeling. The print, however, is not intrusive and hardly noticeable, and it became even less conspicuous when President Obama signed the E-labeling bill in 2014.
Apple's request, apart from wishing to be granted design autonomy, also includes tax concessions, according to Forbes, and it still remains to be disclosed how the Indian government feels about Apple's formal request.
Surely, Apple knows that it has ample bargaining power to sway the Indian government's decision, since the country was one of the iPhone's biggest growth market this fiscal year. What's more, the smartphone market in India is slated to surpass the U.S.'s in 2017, pitted to become the second-largest in the world behind China, according to American research company IDC.
Why Manufacture iPhones In India?
If Apple executes the manufacturing process on the host country itself, it could avoid bloated tariffs associated with importing iPhone units, enabling them to sell the devices at a competitive price. Apple is forced to shell out 12.5 percent additional tariff when importing products; not the case for locally manufactured devices.
Indian law requires retail stores to manufacture a portion of their products right from the country, a scenario that could be feasible for Apple once its manufacturing facility breaks ground on India, which in turn spells the subsequent establishment of Apple Stores in the country.
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, thinks there's "a future for Apple retail in India." Cook had visited India in May, holding talks with the country's carriers and government officials to bring its retail stores ashore.
