A key Indian government initiative is “Make In India”. Several manufacturers have begun to setup new manufacturing and assembly for smartphones and person digital devices. The new plants will employ thousands of workers, move to build local supply chains, and have been located in geographies also picked for political reasons. Conflict between different priorities and goals was inevitable as plants were built, workforces hired, and products began to flow.
In this release EkaLore looks at a small example – the market conflicts around Apple’s choice of cable connector for the iPhone. The EU marketplace is forcing Apple to a common USB-C connector instead of any proprietary Apple feature. India’s government regulators are intent on forcing a similar change in Apple’s products for India and for export.
Apple, Google, Samsung, and other smartphone manufacturers see India as a key market – moving to digital, a huge market, and activity across many demographic marketspaces. Google has announced manufacturing for the Pixel line of smartphones to be assembled in India. Samsung looks to build for the Indian and export markets in Noida. Samsung, over a five-year growth period from 2018, has ramped to more than 70000 Indian workers. India is to be a key smartphone assembly center for Samsung. Apple looks to move from its tiny overall unit marketshare to a larger marketshare than just the premium value segment.
Apple’s manufacturing assembly partners (Foxconn, Wistron, Pegatron) have moved to Make In India. Their experiences have taken time to build the local expertise and ramp production.
Apple has also stated its preference for supply chain partners to source from India.
Attracting smartphone manufacturers and ramping workforces has been a major component of success for Make In India.
The European Union has acted to force Apple, by 2025, to move from its proprietary “Lightning” connector (and licensed IP) to a commodity USB-C connector for smartphone charging. Common to many regulatory disputes over proprietary-versus-commodity features Apple wanted greater control over design and interface features to its product lines. The controversy has been running for 15 years resulting in an EU requirement for USB-C charging capability by the end of 2024.
The decline of EU champions Nokia, Ericsson, and others also saw their power reduced to lobby for their own standards. The EU manufacturing operations were another industry where the research and production workforces had declined as USA, Chinese, and Korean manufacturers steadily innovated faster. The rise of Samsung, Apple, and other Android-based products has seen growth in USB-C connectors other than Apple. The EU bureaucracy, like the Indian Government Ministries, wanted to exercise some control over the colossal USA-based global tech enterprises.
India’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs now seeks to build on the EU regulatory success to influence design, features, and interfaces for smart devices. Samsung, and other smartphone manufacturers, has agreed to comply with regulatory mandates to use USB-C charging connectors by mid-2025. Apple is reported to be pushing-back against the mandate. Apple’s reasons include continued manufacturing of mature product designs already in production in India, continuity for existing customers already invested, and engineering costs to retrofit products reducing innovation spending.
The details of market structures in the EU and North America being different than India for new product lines and legacy products also weighs on whether the regulatory action is good for India. Apple’s smaller unit market share means fewer people would be affected. The added expenses and changes to existing product lines could affect ramp-up rates for the workforce. The conflict is also inherent in different bureaucracies in the Government. Each group wants to assert maximal visible efforts and controls in pursuit of its own goals. The resolution of the conflict will thus likely be a political one in the end.
EkaLore has highlighted smartphone-related technologies as key to the progress of a Dynamic India. The regulatory fight over a smartphone connector is just one example of technological and political conflicts. In many such conflicts there are different ‘winners’ (benefits) and ‘losers’ (loss of margin, time, or market). In the end the political decision making process will be the critical lesson for a Dynamic India on the way to creating long-term benefits and meeting longer-term goals.
For more information on a Dynamic India please see http://www.ekalore.com/india-business
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