Apple in India has a big gap to bridge to match Samsung in Vietnam

The contrast in the depth of as­sociation between each global mo­bile device giant and the respective country of investment is even more palpable

Can Apple Inc become for India what Samsung is to Vietnam in the mobile devices export sweepstakes?

For Samsung it has been a long haul — starting from 2009 when the Korean major decided to slowly shift manufacturing operations from China till it moved out comp­l­etely in 2019. That strategic decisi­on transformed Vietnam into Sam­sung’s mobile device assembly hub, investing $18 billion in factor­ies, supply chains and R&D. Viet­nam, which also liberalised a range of policies to accommodate foreign direct investment, catapulted itself to become the world’s largest exp­ort­er of mobile phones after China.

Apple Inc has regularly been hitting