Mumbai, India
India has become of increasing importance to Apple as it aims to cut its dependence on China for manufacturing. It’s also long been a producer of the iPhone for sale in India itself, because of import costs.
According to Reuters, India’s finance ministry has announced a cut in those import duty fees for a number of components now used in the local manufacture of smartphones. The cut is from 15% to 10% and, amongst others, applies to battery covers, camera lenses, and the GSM antenna.
At the same time, the country has reduced import duty to zero for what are described as inputs used to manufacture the components within India. So instead of using higher fees to encourage local production, the government is offering incentives to manufacture components in India.
The news comes as figures for India’s smartphone market across 2023 have been announced by Counterpoint Research.
Overall, sales of smartphones were flat in 2023, compared to the previous year, at 152 million units. Samsung took the top spot at 18% of all smartphone sales.
Apple did not make the top five overall, but it did make a new sales record in the premium market.
“Apple’s focus on India is also aiding the trend [to premium smartphones], with the brand surpassing the 10-million-unit mark in shipments and capturing the top position in revenue in a calendar year for the first time, propelled by robust demand for both its latest and older iPhones,” said Counterpoint’s Shilpi Jain.
“The opening of own retail stores and increasing focus on LFR (large-format retail) through regular promotions contributed to increased offline shipments,” continued Jain. “Besides, higher trade-in values presented an appealing proposition for consumers to transition to iOS.”
