iPhone 7 will be launched in India on Oct 7. That’s about 3 weeks after it reaches people in the US.
That’s just what happened last year – India was nowhere on the list of priority countries and we had to wait a while to get our hands on the iPhone. C’mon Apple! Show India some love!
A Quick Look at the New Features
- The iPhone 7 saw no big change in the design except for the antenna lines that now curve along the top and bottom edges.
- On the inside, the new A10 Fusion processor has doubled up processing power and speed. Many of the new features in iOS 10 will benefit greatly from this new chip.
- Both models – iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus cameras have optical image stabilisation, which was previously available only on the Plus models. We also get a 7MP front camera. The 7 Plus receives an additional upgrade – It now has dual lens.
- The 3.5 headphone jack is gone, so is the physical Home button.
- Both models receive a huge bump in the storage. Instead of 8GB or 16GB, we now have a 32GB base model. The storage expansion plan expands to take the 6S and 6S Plus in its fold.
Moving on to the price, reports are in that the base model of iPhone 7 will retail for 60,000 rupees in India. That is a lot of money!
iPhone 6S – 62,000/-
iPhone 6S Plus – 72,000/-
iPhone 7 – 60,000
iPhone 7 Plus – unknown
So, it looks like Apple continues to milk the Indian market for all it is worth!
Is this the Ultimate Phone?
Far from it. The success of iPhone in India depends first on price and then on the features. And for the price it’s charging, the iPhone 7 doesn’t offer enough new features to be a smash hit. Most of its features are already available on the 6S, whose prices are sure to fall now. If the price difference between the 7 and 6S widens by more than 10,000-15,000 Rupees, then the sales of iPhone 7 could take a serious hit.
Given as we might not see an “S” cycle for the iPhone 7, we had expected it to have more firepower. However, the upgrade from iPhone 6S is merely incremental. It’s a brilliant phone, no doubt, arguably even the best in the market! But for the rational consumer, going for the 6S makes more financial sense.
The hardcore fans, however, will still go for the 7. But Apple needs to reach out to people beyond this niche class of people. In this emerging market (India), Apple has to build a whole new customer base. Will the iPhone 7 manage to capture this price-sensitive market? We’ll have to wait and watch.