Apple to start trial assembly of iPhones in India from next month

New Delhi: Apple's will start the 'trial assembly' of its iPhone manufacturing in Bengaluru from next month, as per a newspaper report.

The Economic Times, quoting official sources said that Apple will start manufacturing the Make in India iPhones “regardless of the outcome of its requests for certain concessions from the central government”.

“Taiwanese original design manufacturer Wistron — with which Apple has a contract — will begin assembling the iconic phones at its unit in a Bengaluru suburb,” ET quoting officials said.

Local manufacturing is expected to help Apple price its phones more competitively in India as it currently attracts 12.5 percent additional duty on imports.

This would be Apple's second big project for Bengaluru. In May last year, Apple had announced setting up a design and development accelerator in the city to grow the iOS developer community.

The announcement was made as part of the visit of Apple CEO Tim Cook to India.