The iPhone SE was released back in March and was met with mixed reaction some think it’s amazing while others who prefer Android devices found those mid-rangers which offer better value than the US$399 priced smartphone but like it or not, it’s currently Apple’s cheapest smartphone as we have the expensive iPhone 11 and others like that which costs in the north of US$600. However, the iPhone SE 2020 might get 15% cheaper in India as Apple hopes to move manufacturing to the country.
The device costs a little bit more in the Indian market compared to the US but that will change as Apple plans to start assembling the iPhone SE (2020) in India which will obviously be a big price cut for the device in the region.
Apple is said to be partnering with Wistron which is a Taiwanese manufacturer and the company had already assembled it’s older smartphones such as the iPhone SE and even the first generation iPhone SE.
According to report which showed that Apple has asked one of its component suppliers in China to start shipping those components for the iPhone SE 2020 down to the South East Asia region, India precisely.
What this means is that the company has already worked out plans with Wistron to start assembling the device in the country, and that could begin as early as July 2020, a person familiar with the matter, says.
And that move will help Apple to avoid import duty of about 20% which has already made the company to sell the iPhone SE 2020 at about US$560 in India unlike in the US where it’s being sold for US$399.
India is by far one of the largest smartphone market on earth whose majority of consumers prefer the mid-range spectrum but the increase in GST rates had prompted smartphone companies to increase the pricing of their devices in the region.
Apple however has only a small share of the India market but with the company beginning to assemble devices such as the iPhone XR in partnership with Foxconn, the company is seeing a good increase in premium share of the India smartphone market. And so the iPhone SE 2020 might just get 15% cheaper in India unlike other regions.
Our believe is that by the time the assembly starts taking place right locally on the Indian soil, that will ultimately reduce the pricing of the device in the region which could take the price tag down to about -15% off the original price point.