The upcoming Apple iPhone 16e will be assembled in India, not just for sale in India but also for exports to some countries. This means that status quo is maintained with regards to the milestone of the entire iPhone 16 line-up being assembled in India, something that was achieved late last year with commencement of the iPhone 16 Pro phones. Apple’s contract manufacturers will now assemble the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max and the iPhone 16e in the country.
“The entire iPhone 16 lineup, including iPhone 16e, is being assembled in India for Indian consumers and for export to select countries. The new iPhone 16e delivers fast performance thanks to the A18 chip, breakthrough battery life, Apple Intelligence, and a 48MP 2-in-1 camera system, providing exceptional value to our customers,” Apple confirms to HT.
At this time, Apple’s official retail presence in India also lists the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus phones, those also being assembled here. iPhone 16e prices start at ₹59,900 while the iPhone 16 costs ₹79,900 onwards, the iPhone 16 Plus demanding you part with ₹89,900 onwards, the iPhone 16 Pro sporting price tags upwards of ₹1,19,900 and the iPhone 16 Pro Max bookending the line-up with prices ₹1,44,900 onwards.
Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook underlined India’s importance to the company in an earnings call, and also said that the iPhone was the top selling model in the country in the company’s first quarter (October-December 2024) of financial year 2024-25. This, amidst a December-quarter record for Apple.
Cook also confirmed that Apple Intelligence will be available in more languages in April, expected to coincide with the release of iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, something Apple reconfirmed at the time of the iPhone 16e launch yesterday. It goes a step further still. From April, iPhone users will be able to update the primary device language from any among multiple Indian languages—Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, or Urdu.
Apple’s manufacturing partners in India include Taiwanese giants Foxconn and Pegatron, as well as the Tata-owned Wistron, and the Tata Group, which is Apple’s only Indian manufacturing partner.
The company’s manufacturing plans for India tie in closely with the country’s aspirations of becoming a global manufacturing hub for smartphones.
According to the Economic Survey 2023-24, “Apple assembled 14% of its global iPhones in India in FY24.” This is the momentum from India’s well-timed push with the Make in India initiative with the phased Performance Linked Incentive scheme for local manufacturing. That propelled India to the sixth-largest smartphone exporter globally by 2022. For context, India was the 23rd largest smartphone exporter in 2014. In FY24, smartphone exports comprised over 31% of the total smartphones manufactured.
Increased localised manufacturing played its part as Apple surprised competing Android phone makers, by significantly reducing the prices of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, compared with their predecessors, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus retain the price points of their predecessors, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, despite significant hardware upgrades including an A18 chip, iOS with Apple Intelligence, and better photography features.
Retail footprint matches manufacturing ambition
In January, Apple released the Apple Store app in India, giving it a wider online retail footprint in the country alongside the Apple India online store. All of Apple’s products and services are also listed on the app.
That will now including the upcoming iPhone 16e. “It will be available to purchase at Apple Retail, on the Apple Store app and through Apple preferred partners, starting February 28,” Apple confirms to HT.
The company’s intent to widen the physical retail presence is clear, with new Apple Stores set to open in more locations in India. Though the company hasn’t officially listed the upcoming locations as yet, Delhi and Mumbai could see a new store each alongside the existing Apple Saket and Apple BKC respectively, with Bengaluru and Pune in the conversation for expanding Apple’s retail presence in India.
