The phones are being assembled at Chinese contract manufacturer Foxconn’s India factory, subsequently, the prices have been slashed for iPhone XR in India
Apple Inc has started selling its popular iPhone XR phones assembled in India, the company looks to expand its share in the world’s second-largest smartphone market – India, where it has struggled against low cost or cheaper products from competitors. The phones are being assembled at Chinese contract manufacturer Foxconn’s India factory, helping the Cupertino, California-based company avoid high levies on the import of fully-built devices as well as meet local sourcing norms for opening its own retail stores in India.
For the past couple of years, Apple has been manufacturing its chips inhouse to power its iPads and Macs. Apple’s first processor A4 was designed in 2010. From then on, it has designed a series of chips for processing data faster, and for better photos, including the A13 Bionic chip that powers the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max. The chip is built for machine learning, with a faster neural engine for real-time photo and video analysis.
In the past couple of years, Apple has also been manufacturing iPhones in India. It first started assembling the low-cost iPhone SE at its Taiwanese supplier Wistron’s facility in Bengaluru. More recently, it started the production of the iPhone XR at the Foxconn facility in Chennai.
iPhone XR boxes with an “Assembled in India” tag were seen on Monday in many of the country’s electronic product retailers, including Croma, with a price tag of 49,900 Indian rupees for the 64 GB version. The company has slashed iPhone XR prices in India to counter a protracted sales slowdown among aggressive competition from premium smartphones from Samsung and OnePlus.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has tried to position South Asia’s third-biggest economy as a hub for smartphone manufacturing. Companies such as Apple are also looking to use India as an export hub to soften the impact of an ongoing trade war between the United States and China.
iPhone XR: How is it a better buy than iPhone 11
- The major factor to be considered here is the pricing. The new iPhone 11 starts at Rs 64,900 for the base 64GB variant. That’s almost Rs 15,000 more than the base variant of the iPhone XR costing Rs 49,900. Similar differences are there for the 128GB and 256GB storage variants. For value-conscious buyers, the iPhone XR makes more sense in comparison, given that the iPhone 11 brings incremental updates instead of a massive overhaul.
- The iPhone 11 boasts of the latest A13 Bionic chip with better performance. That said, the A12 Bionic chipset on the iPhone XR is no slouch by any means. At the iPhone 11 launch event, Apple itself said that the A12 Bionic is two years ahead of the current generation flagship chips in the Android universe. Hence, if you love playing games or are a power user dealing with video editing and more, the iPhone XR will still be more than enough for all your mobile computing needs.
- The major upgrade on the iPhone 11 is the new dual-camera system at the back and a new selfie camera. Compared to the setup on the iPhone XR, the new cameras are much more versatile, especially with the ultra-wide cameras. However, the iPhone XR has a highly capable camera for both still photos and videos. And for casual photographers or for those who don’t need an ultra-wide camera, the iPhone XR makes more sense.
- Battery life was a massive feature on the iPhone XR and at Rs 50,000, you still can’t have a phone with a better battery life. The iPhone 11 only offers an extra hour of battery life and considering the extra Rs 15,000, that may not be enough. Plus, you still get fast wireless charging with the iPhone XR and support for fast wired charging as well.
- The iPhone XR offers all the Apple essentials. You get the brilliant FaceID system for secure biometric verification. Apple’s iOS 13 is secure as a vault and it has some of the best apps and games on a mobile platform. And since it’s an iPhone, you will get at least four years of iOS updates.
- Does that mean iPhone 11 is not better than iPhone XR
- That’s not the case. The iPhone XR with its cheaper pricing offers better value over the iPhone 11. However, if you want the best-in-latest-tech from Apple, the iPhone 11 should be your pick. The new camera systems offer more versatility and the new 12-megapixel front camera is better for selfies. You also get new colors on the iPhone 11 along with the new camera design (if you are into it). The iPhone 11 also offers superior performance with the A13 Bionic and a bigger battery. And most importantly, it comes with an 18W charger in the box now.
