Apple cuts iPhone 6 prices by ₹22K in India, says 7 Plus sold out globally
Just 22 days ahead of the India launch of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple has slashed prices of selected handsets in the country by up to ₹22,000.
This is the highest price cut ever by the Cupertino-headquartered tech giant in India.
The iPhone 6S (128GB) version will be available for ₹60,000 — ₹22,000 cheaper than its original retail price of ₹82,000. The bigger-screen variant, iPhone 6S Plus (128GB), will now be available for ₹70,000. It has also seen a ₹22,000 fall in prices.
The price reduction in stores will also effect prices in grey markets, analysts said. “Grey market prices will be hit. Usually there is a 10% to 15% difference between the original MRP and the price of a smartphone in a grey market,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst at Greyhound Research.
“People buy from grey markets since the price is less,” said Asnhul Gupta, research director at Gartner. “Sellers in those markets will have to sell at prices lower than the MRP to retain the advantage.”
Not only that, the latest fourinch iPhone SE will also cost less. The 64GB version, currently sporting a price tag of ₹49,000, will now be available at ₹44,000.
“Apple has reduced prices in certain variants of the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and the SE,” an industry source in the know of things told HT. However, the company is yet to
start taking pre-orders for iPhone 7, which is set to go on sale from October 7. The iPhone 7 will come with iOS 10, and the Plus will sport a dual rear camera. Both will come with optical image stabilisation, 3D touch button, and will be dust and water-resistant.
Last year, Apple had launched iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in India in October. While the iPhone 6S (16GB) was launched at ₹62,000, the iPhone 6S Plus (16GB) had a retail price of ₹72,000. Both iPhones come with 3D touch and 2GB RAM along with support for 4K videos. The four-inch SE, which was launched to boost sales in emerging markets, sports a 4-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD display. There’s a 12MP rear camera and a touch ID.
Apple is betting big on the Indian market. In July, CEO Tim Cook had said that India is one of its fastest growing markets for the company globally. “In the first three quarters of this fiscal year (Ocoto- ber 2015-June 2016), our iPhone sales in India were up 51% yearon-year,” he had said.
The company has also announced setting up of a design and development accelerator to support Indian developers creating innovative applications for iOS, and has also opened a new office in Hyderabad to accelerate maps development.
Meanwhile, Apple said that initial quantities of the iPhone 7 Plus have sold out globally. Supplies of the new phone have been exhausted in all shades, and the smaller iPhone 7 has also sold out in the new jet black colour. So, these phones will not be available for walk-in customers when it will be available in stores on Friday. Both iPhone 7 models show a two to three week wait time in the US and the UK on the Apple website. The company launched the new phones earlier this month.
Breaking with tradition, the company will not release firstweekend sales of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, saying the figure is more a reflection of supply than demand.