NEW DELHI: Indian consumers could get their hands on made-in-India iPhone SE smartphones as early as this week as Apple has started rolling out the first set of locally-made devices from its contract manufacturer’s facility in Bengaluru.People aware of the manufacturing plans told ET that initially small numbers of the iPhone SE are being assembled and shipped by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron Corp, and the devices will be sold across offline and online retail stores.Trade partners say that the prices of the locally-made phones would initially remain at the current retail prices – around Rs25,000 - with the company investing the higher margins made from these devices for a more aggressive sales and marketing play.An Apple spokesperson confirmed the development, but declined to comment on the price, the marketing strategy or the production levels. “We are beginning initial production of a small number of iPhone SE in Bengaluru. We will begin shipping to domestic customers this month,” the company said. Wistron declined to comment.IT and telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan termed the development as a “game changer” for India’s push on local manufacturing.Duty Benefits may Decide Prices“This is one of the biggest moves for 'Make in India' because when an iconic company like Apple comes in, it means they bring a huge ecosystem with them,” Sundararajan told ET. “It’s kind of leapfrogging, because the ecosystem reaches a higher level of maturity, as everyone upgrades to the standards a company like Apple represents,” she said, adding this will inspire other companies to follow.Karnataka industries and infrastructure minister RV Deshpande told ET that the state had been raising the company’s demands with the commerce and finance minister.“We have given them (Apple) full cooperation and support. Apple was looking at the right place, and it’s a proud moment for India, as we're eager to get more investments from them and others,” he said.Navkendar Singh, senior analyst at IDC India, said that Apple is unlikely to change its retail prices in a hurry, considering the huge aspirational brand appeal in India for its products and their overall premium positioning.“Apple might decide to use the saving from differential duties in expanding its presence, increase channel margins and retail-level marketing, while making sure that Apple products are available at more retail points than before, especially in smaller cities and towns,” he said.Tarun Pathak, associate director at Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, said the first shipments will be likely part of a trial run and actual volume and scale will be more clear after clarity on duty differential benefits under the goods and services tax (GST) regime.Over time though, once clarity on GST and duty benefits for local manufacturing emerges, the retail price of the locally-made iPhones could be lower by 10%, said analysts.“The price drop can be anywhere between 7% and 10%,” said Pathak. “It depends on Apple whether it decides to pass this saving to customers and to what extent.”Any price drop would help Apple garner a higher share than the 2.6% it had in the quarter ended March in the highly competitive Indian smartphone market. In the segment above Rs 30,000, Apple has a 43% share, trailing market leader Samsung Electronics.Despite the huge aspirational value its products offer, Apple has not been able to corner a larger slice of the Indian smartphone pie due to pricing. Its new models are priced over Rs 50,000 in a market where over 70% of the devices are sold in the under Rs 10,000 segment. This has led to Apple falling way short of its target of selling 10 million mobile phones in India by 2016-17. Starting local assembly and scaling it up to full manufacturing will help the company price its products competitively and corner a bigger portion of the market where nearly 700 million mobile phone users still use feature phones.“iPhone SE contributed a fifth of the total iPhone sales during the last quarter… In all likelihood, the previous generation of iPhones will be manufactured in India and eventually Apple can pass on some of the cost benefits to bridge the affordability versus aspirational gap,” Pathak said.Apple is trying to make deeper inroads into India as growth in the US and China slows. In fact, Apple’s revenue grew more than 20% in India in the quarter ended March, setting a new record for the iPhone maker for that three-month period.The company sold 2.7 million phones in India in 2016 and is expected to sell 3.5 million units this year, Pathak said.During his maiden visit to India last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced setting up of an app development center in Bengaluru and opened a development centre for Apple Maps in Hyderabad with an investment of $25 million. The US technology giant’s top boss met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the possibilities of manufacturing and retailing in India.Cook said earlier this month that Apple was under-penetrated in India, but added that it was investing a “ton of energy” on retail, manufacturing and R&D among others, as it saw huge opportunity emerging from the fast-growing economy, its young population and rapidly improving 4G networks.