Tata Group is soon preparing to open 100 small Apple stores across the country. According to an Economic Times report, Apple is in talks with Tata-owned Infinity Retail for stores. Infinity Retail operates Croma stores in India.
Infinity Retail will become Apple's franchise partner. The company plans to open 100 outlets of 500-600 sq ft in locations such as malls and high-streets (main roads). These Apple Authorized Reseller outlets will be smaller than Apple Premium Reseller stores, which are typically a little over 1,000 square feet.
The smaller stores will sell mostly iPhones, iPads and watches, while the larger stores will carry the full Apple range including MacBook computers. There are currently around 160 Apple Premium Reseller stores in India. A retail consultant in the know said Tata has already started discussions with premium malls and high streets for space.
Tata Group is in talks with Wistron Corp, a Taiwanese supplier to Apple Inc, to set up an electronics manufacturing joint venture in India. This joint venture will assemble the iPhone in India. Tata wants to become a force in technology manufacturing through this. If the deal is successful, it would make Tata the first Indian company to manufacture the iPhone. Currently, Wistron and Foxconn assemble iPhones in India and China.
Most of the iPhone is produced in China. Apple supplies parts to its contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, and then those manufacturers assemble it and produce the iPhone. Apple started manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017 with the iPhone SE. To know the complete manufacturing process of iPhone, you can click on the link given below.