Talk about Apple’s plans to start manufacturing iPhones in India has just gotten a shot in the arm courtesy a brand new report. Apple partner Wistron has apparently applied for permission to expand its present Bengaluru factory.
This piece of information falls in line with earlier reports which had alleged that Wistron’s Bengaluru plant would be the epicenter of Apple’s Indian iPhone initiative. The company is supposedly planning to begin putting together iPhones at the facility by April this year.
A high-ranking Karnataka government official told Reuters that Wistron has gone as far as to ask the state administration to fast-track the application by expediting certain clearances covering the augmentation and expansion of its existing unit. Still, the company’s extension plans may or may not be related to Apple’s Make In India intentions.
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The official for his part says Wistron’s eagerness to expand pretty quickly could perhaps represent several steps in that direction. Analysts are of the belief that Apple’s India overtures could eventually help the brand grow in India and lower prices since local manufacturing would help with cost optimization.
Wistron was recently the subject of a separate Apple rumor related to the company’s next 2017 iPhone. China’s Economic Daily News had reported that the former would be the third supplier of the upcoming series of handsets after Pegatron and Foxconn. The components maker has so far only been confirmed to be involved in the production of the iPhone 5C and iPhone SE.