Like the iPhone 8, the new SE will also be manufactured in Brazil [atualizado]

The subject is nothing new: in 2017, shortly after the information that the Foxconn in Jundiaí would have ended the production of iPads in Brazil, the news came that the iPhones would also stop being assembled in the country by the end of that year – which was promptly denied by Apple Brazil.

Since then, the iPad assembly line has actually been closed; that of iPhones, however, remained intact. According to sources MacMagazine, the Foxconn factory in JundiaĂ­ currently assembles practically the entire line of Apple smartphones, including the iPhones 8, 8 Plus, XR and 11.

The only devices that are not assembled in Brazil today are the two flagships, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

How iPhones Assembly Works in Brazil

New iPhones, in general, are not manufactured in Brazil. Most likely due to the complexity of manufacturing / assembling new devices, Apple prefers to leave this task to Foxconn’s Asian plants.

Over time, the assembly of these devices becomes feasible here in Brazil. And recent history proves this, as we can see in IPhone XR Technical Compliance Certificates:

THE MacMagazine found in the Anatel systems four Certificates of Technical Conformity of the iPhone XR, registered with the following dates: August 25, 2018, December 7, 2018, April 4, 2019 and June 1, 2019.

Only on the certificate issued on 4/4/2019, the Foxconn Brasil Indústria e Comércio Ltda. started to be listed as the device’s manufacturing unit – that is, Apple felt comfortable to start assembling the device in Brazil basically in the middle of his cycle.

The iPhones XS and XS Max, in turn, have only one certificate each and never got to be assembled in Brazil – not least because they were only in line from 2018 to 2019, with status of flagships.

Moving on to the current generation, we have the same scenario: the iPhones 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max are not manufactured in Brazil, while the iPhone 11 has recently been assembled at Foxconn in JundiaĂ­.

IPhone 11 documents unavailable at Anatel

Click / tap to enlarge

At the time this article was published, Anatel’s system even shows that the documents related to the iPhone 11 are unavailable because they are “under analysis”. THE MM believes that a new Technical Conformity Certificate will appear for the device, just now listing Foxconn Brasil as a factory.

The date matches perfectly, since the iPhone XR started to be manufactured in Brazil in the same period (about six months after the original launch), as shown in the documents above.

IPhones 8 and 8 Plus list Foxconn Brasil as a manufacturing unit since the first Technical Conformity Certificate issued, indicating that the devices have been assembled in the country since the beginning of the device cycle – perhaps because they were not flagships in its year of release, but the iPhone X (which was never manufactured here), or simply because they are an updated version of the iPhones 7 and 7 Plus.

Returning to the new iPhone SE…

Despite being a device launched in 2020 and with some latest generation components (A13 Bionic chip and support for Wi-Fi 6), the new iPhone SE is far from being a flagship (the only ones that are not assembled in Brazil) – it is no wonder that today it is the entry-level iPhone (with the lowest price).

Therefore, it makes perfect sense for him to enter the Brazilian production line right away.

And the inscription “Indústria Brasileira” on the iPhone SE?

As soon as Apple launched the new iPhone SE, many readers noticed that the promotional images on the Brazilian website had the inscription “Indústria Brasileira” on the back – which most likely drew media attention to whether or not the device was assembled. in Brazil.

It is worth noting that the images with the inscription were quickly replaced by Apple.

Since 2017, with the launch of the iPhones 8, 8 Plus and X, Apple has been trying to remove these inscriptions from the back of devices sold worldwide. It all started in the United States, of course, and was gradually reaching other regions.

In Europe, for example, until today the devices are sold with the inscriptions “CE”; in Brazil, Apple was able to quickly get rid of these visual distractions and there is no reason for it to “get back” on the devices.

The iPhone SE has not yet been launched in Brazil, but we believe that it will hardly come with such an inscription. This is because, as we said, the iPhones 8, 8 Plus, XR and 11 are assembled at Foxconn Brasil and that is not why the devices have such indications on their backs – if anything, there is some reference on the product box.

Conclusion

The production of iPhones at Foxconn Brasil remains firm and strong; around here, Apple chose to assemble basically all devices except the ones flagships. It is only a pity that, even so, the prices of the devices remain very high in the national territory (not least because, although assembled in JundiaĂ­, many parts of them continue to be imported).

It is clear that this plan may change in the future, either to increase (including top-of-the-line models) or to reduce production, after all the company is expanding the assembly to other countries such as India, for example, in order to depend on each less of China.

Today, however, the production plan in Brazil is quite flat – and the new iPhone SE fits it perfectly, as expected.

Update Apr 21, 2020 at 15:25

Contrary to what we imagined, in Brazil Apple still has not managed to get rid of the inscriptions on the back of the device. Thus, iPhones assembled in the country even have the words “Brazilian Industry”, as the reader warned us Maurício Rodrigues.

Thus, the new iPhone SE will probably have such an inscription – as shown in the images taken from the air on the Apple website.