Apple’s long-time manufacturing partner Foxconn might be considering a return to India after closing several of its manufacturing facilities in the country just last year. According to a new report the company is considering opening up as many as a dozen facilities in India to manufacture the iPhone in order to cut down on production costs.
Reuters reports today that Foxconn is currently in discussions with India’s government to open up to a dozen factories and data centers by the year 2020. Some of these facilities may be used to manufacture the iPhone.
Manufacturing the iPhone in India would allow Apple to pass on the savings to customers in the country, where the iPhone costs a bit more than rivals from Samsung.
Local production in India will decrease costs for units that are meant to be sold in the country and thus provide Apple with that margin to better compete against the likes of Samsung in the country.
It’s also possible that Foxconn’s facilities may be used to manufacture products for other countries, since it already manufacturers devices for the likes of Microsoft, BlackBerry and Amazon, though it’s mainly popular due to its long association with Apple.
No word as yet on when Foxconn will reach a deal with the Indian government to bring back its manufacturing facilities.