Apple iPhone SE (2020) to be manufactured in India: Report
As per a report by The Information, Apple has decided to start the manufacturing of its most affordable handset, the iPhone SE (2020) in India. Avoiding a 20% tax on importing the handset in India is being cited as the reason behind this move. Wistron, Apple's Taiwanese contract manufacturer, will start receiving components from a Chinese supplier in July for the manufacturing process.
Status of manufacturing iPhones in India
iPhone SE (2020) units currently available in India are manufactured in China. However, the government has launched a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to commence domestic manufacturing and assembling. Apple's manufacturing in India began in 2017 with the iPhone SE. The assembly was done at Wistron's Bengaluru facility, and manufacturing, at Foxconn's factories. In October 2019, Apple started manufacturing the iPhone XR in India, too.
iPhone SE (2020): At a glance
The second-generation iPhone SE bears a conventional rectangular display with thick bezels on the top as well as the bottom. It comes with an aluminum frame with glass on both sides, an IP67 rating, and a Touch ID fingerprint reader housed within the home button. Also, the handset packs a 4.7-inch HD+ (750x1334 pixels) LCD screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9.
For the shutterbugs and selfie lovers
The iPhone SE (2020) comes with a single 12MP (f/1.8) rear camera with OIS in addition to a quad-LED dual-tone flash. On the front, there is a single 7MP (f/2.2) selfie snapper with a screen flash. The rear camera can record 4K videos at up to 60fps, while the front camera allows you to shoot Full-HD videos at 30fps.
Under the hood
The iPhone SE (2020) is powered by Apple's flagship A13 Bionic chipset, paired with 3GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. It runs on iOS 13 and packs a 1,821mAh battery, which supports 18W fast charging and Qi wireless charging. The handset supports connectivity options like dual-band Wi-Fi 6, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.0. It also offers stereo speakers.
What about the pricing?
The price of the iPhone SE (2020), the successor to the first-generation iPhone SE, starts at Rs. 42,500 (approximately $558) in India. This is $159 more than the $399 price tag (approximately Rs. 30,400) it carries in the US market.
