TLI Staff
New Delhi: With premium smartphone make Apple starting production of its hot-selling iPhone 14 at its contract manufacturer Foxconn’s plant in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Moody’s has said that the tech giant’s move is credit positive as it will diversify its manufacturing base that is highly concentrated in China.
“Apple has produced iPhones in India since 2017 but the manufacturing of iPhone 14 within weeks of their global launch demonstrates the maturity of the company’s manufacturing capabilities in India that we expect to ramp up quickly. Increasing volumes of locally-manufactured iPhones will also accelerate Apple’s expansion strategy in India,” said Raj Joshi, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance Group, Moody’s Investors Service.
As per the top global rating firm, Apple had less than 5% unit share of the smartphone market in India, the second-largest smartphone market by unit volumes.
Apple’s iPhone sales in India nearly doubled over prior year in the June 2022 quarter and the Indian smartphone market’s large size and strong growth prospects as the country unveils its 5G network make it an attractive long-term market for Apple, it added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the first 5G mobile services commercially on October 1, 2022 at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022, where top business honchos from the sector like Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal and Kumar Mangalam Birla would be present.
As per industry sources, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel’s 5G services would be launched in key cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.