India recently witnessed a huge spike in the prices of various iPhone models. It came as quite a shock to most of us, especially the nearly 30% increase in the price tag of iPhone 6.
Source: ET
You can read our full article about it here: iPhones Get a Massive Price Increase in India
Predictably, Apple received a lot of backlash from the public for this inexplicable move. Fearing that their reputation would take a severe hit, Apple has chosen to speak up about the issue…
… And, guess what? Apple says it did not increase the prices!!
Wait … What!!??
That’s right. Apple says it is NOT responsible for the price hike. We feel like calling them liars, but there seems to be some truth in what they’re saying. The Apple India website still shows the same prices as it did in March end. Here, take a look.
As you can see, the prices haven’t fluctuated at all! Besides, “Apple has confirmed that it has not sent out any such communication,” reported Hindustan Times, with regard to increasing prices.
So, if Apple didn’t raise the prices, why are iPhone devices suddenly so expensive in India?
Turns out, the culprit is the e-commerce marketplace in India.
Online retailers like Amazon and Flipkart were selling iPhones at heavily subsidized rates. It’s quite possible that they were voluntarily bearing losses to get traction on their sites.
Last week, however, they removed those discounts due to some inexplicable reason. And all of a sudden, the iPhone got really expensive.
What’s curious is that all the e-commerce giants decided to withdraw the discounts at the same time. We don’t have the resources to confirm if it was merely a coincidence or if there is some larger conspiracy at play here. We are hoping it is only a matter of chance.
With the recent setbacks to the e-commerce businesses in India, it seems natural that these companies would try and minimise these losses. While that sounds right on paper, their problems run deeper than just huge discounts.
Flipkart, in particular, is trying to fend off some serious scalability and funding issues. “A storm of its own making,” says Quartz.
In such a scenario, we have no choice but to pay the full list price — something that all Indians dislike immensely!
Our hope now rests with Apple taking forward its local manufacturing plans in India. If it builds the products right here on our shore, it seems likely that we might see a general price drop on Apple products.
It’s going to be a long, hard battle, and we’d do well to stock up on hope and prayers, for the night is dark and full of terrors!
