IPhone 7 in India: Really sold out, or just synthetic scarcity?
NEWDELHI: If you were in queue to lay your hands on the latest iPhone 7 on Friday evening, and had to return empty-handed (especially the jet black or the matte black variants), hold your peace: you were not alone.
The most valuable brand’s smartphone launch was marred by controversy with disgruntled consumers as well as retailers complaining that the company had failed to provide enough units. According to industry sources, the black variants of the phone were being sold at premiums of up to ₹50,000 in the so-called grey market.
“There was a shortage of Apple products for the launch this time and I had to cancel several pre-oders for customers who only wanted the black colour variants,” one retailer in the Capital, who didn’t want to be identified, told HT. “The demand for the jet black edition of iPhone 7 and 7 Plus is really high. The ratio of orders to units received is 100:1.”
The dealer also claimed that the “grey market was holding on to the stock (for the official release) and from the morning (Friday) has started selling the products at a premium of ₹10,000 to ₹40,000.”
Apple declined to comment to this correspondent’s queries.
This is not Apples’ first glitch with the iPhone 7 launch. Just days after the global launch, initial quantities of the iPhone 7 Plus was sold out -- in all shades. The jet black variant of the smaller iPhone 7 has also sold out, the company has admitted.
With store staff shrugging their shoulders, customers are queueing up online to book their phones. However, in India retailers are alleging far worse. “A lot of products were deliberately moved to the grey market to reap more profits by creating false demand while customers had to return empty-handed,” one retailer claimed.
According to one retailer, one store launch that was planned to coincide with the handset, had to be postponed owing to paucity of handsets. “Another shop was forced to open by the company, as they were provided two units just for formality,” he alleged.
Industry watchers dismiss charges of foul play and pointed to Apple’s tie up with online partner Flipkart as a possible reason for shortage of handsets. “Apple might have changed its strategy to try and sell more of its products in tier-2 and tier-3 cities,” one analyst said.
Countering this, one retailer cited numbers: “As far as we know Apple had asked for 125,000 units in India, out of which nearly 70,000 were received. And only 10,000 units were shared with big Apple partners, so what happened to the rest? Did all of them go to the online partner?”
He claimed Apple has plans to sell 500,000 units in the first 15 days of the India launch.