Apple gets go-ahead to sell locally-made iPad 2s in Brazil
updated 12:10 pm EDT, Thu April 5, 2012
Third-gen iPad yet to be approved
Apple has received certification to start selling locally-assembled units of the 16GB iPad 2 in Brazil, MacRumors claims to have learned. While Apple already sells every model of the iPad 2 in the country, most are assembled in China. The third-generation iPad has yet to be certified for sale in Brazil, whether from Chinese or Brazilian factories.
Apple will allegedly discontinue all iPad 2s in Brazil except for the 16GB models once the third-gen tablet becomes available. The company is also expected to build at least some third-gen hardware in Brazil; locally-made iPads should have "BR/A" in their model numbers, as opposed to the "BZ/A" assigned to Chinese-built hardware. Apple employs similar designations for iPhones sold in Brazil.
As in China, Brazilian-built Apple products are assembled by Foxconn. For Apple one of the main benefits is avoiding Brazilian import taxes, which are usually credited with driving up the prices of Apple products in the country. Those prices have yet to fall, but production has also yet to scale to a level where all models of a given product are guaranteed to be locally-sourced.
