Sony is reportedly in talks with Foxconn to make its Xperia smartphones in India - first lot of phones expected to ship by end-2015
Sony Corporation is reportedly planning to make its Xperia smartphones under the Make in India initiative started by the Indian government. The company is in talks with Foxconn to start assembling its smartphones in India, and shipping of the first lot is expected to start by the end of 2015. Additionally, the Japanese manufacturer is also looking to make a couple of sub-10k phones, aimed at the Indian market.
Sony had first showed its intentions of becoming a part of Make in India initiative a few months ago. At that time, the company said that it might even set up its own manufacturing plant in India, but declined to share any information about investment and time frame. The company used to have a manufacturing facility in Haryana, which it shut down in 2004 because of the smaller business size in India at that time. After shutting down, Sony started to rely on imports for continuing its operations in the country. As for the smartphones segment, the company’s plan behind making in India is to drive phone sale revenues. At the moment, India is the fourth-largest market for Sony after USA, China, and Japan. Sony has already started manufacturing its BRAVIA line of televisions in India at a plant in Tamil Nadu, after partnership with OEM Competition Team Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd.
However, Sony is not the only company planning to be part of the Make in India initiative. Yesterday, there were reports of Chinese manufacturer Oppo being in discussion with Foxconn for making phones in India. Additionally, companies like Xiaomi, Huawei, BMW, DataWind, HTC, Lenovo and Motorola have either started to make or are planning to make their devices in India. After announcing the Xperia Z5, Z5 Premium, and Z5 Compact at IFA 2015, Berlin, Sony's 'Make in India' initiative may go down well with its users and fans in India.
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