Following last month’s violence at the Wistron facility in Narasapura, Kolar district, the iPhone 12 mini production that was supposed to begin by now has been postponed. The development of the newly released Apple iPhone 12 mini was supposed to begin now, but the recent violence incident at the Wistron plant has put preparations on hold, an industry source said.
Although the iPhone XR and iPhone 11 are still the best-selling models for the brand, the newly released iPhone 12 mini has been in high demand in the region. Launched at Rs 69,900, it was available for Rs 63,900 after a promo of Rs 6,000 cashback with HDFC Bank Credit Card.
According to a source, as the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE 2020 are already being produced in India, making the iPhone 12 mini in India is a sensible step forward. Usually, the development of new entry-level iPhone beings in India is three to four months after the global launch. The iPhone 12 mini would also have been on the assembly line if the commotion had not arisen at the Wistron facility last month.
Apple considered Wistron to be in breach of its ‘Supplier Code of Conduct’ and placed the Taiwan-based manufacturer on probation. Apple had said that their early results show that our Supplier Code of Ethics has been broken by failing to enforce proper working time management procedures. This lead to delays in payment for some employees in October and November. They put Wistron on probation and they won’t get any new business from Apple until they have completed disciplinary measures. This also meant that while Wistron could continue to assemble iPhone 7 and iPhone SE 2020, it was prohibited from acquiring any new business from Apple until corrective action was completed. The source added the iPhone 12 mini assembly also included in this.
The factory destroyed by violence is yet to restart activities. Even the re-opening was postponed due to certain internal investigations. But this has not changed the sales of the iPhone SE 2020 because most of the sales were made during the holiday season and there is still ample supply on the market. And in order to prevent a full shutdown of its supply chain in similar situations, Apple does not focus entirely on domestic manufacturing and continues to import a number of units in each model.
Over the last few years, Apple’s supply partners have become competitive and have expanded production in India. Actually, iPhone XR and iPhone 11, two of Apple’s largest-selling phones, are being manufactured at the Foxconn factory. Whereas the iPhone 7 and the iPhone SE 2020 are manufactured at the Wistron factory. Though iPhones manufactured in India mainly cater to domestic demand, Apple also exports iPhones ‘made in India’ to other countries.
Even rumours saying that Apple is moving the development of the latest Phone 12-series from China to India seem doubtful, as no country has an ecosystem or bandwidth to satisfy the demand of millions of new iPhones. The Cupertino-based giant is yet to launch assembly for its Pro and Max models in India.
