Apple disappointed its Indian fans by launching iPhone 6S at an extremely steep price tag of Rs. 62,000. The market echoed the familiar ‘great phone, but too expensive’ sentiment and sales predictably took a hit. But, to everyone’s surprise, Apple changed the dynamics within a month by offering 34,000 buyback and other incentives on the latest iPhones. And now Apple is raising the temptation meter even higher by announcing massive price cuts across its phones range.
iPhone 5S: Available at Rs. 21,500 Remember Apple India’s masterstroke last year of reducing the price of iPhone 4 to Rs. 15,000? The sales went through the roof! Now, Apple is taking the same route with iPhone 5S. In fact, they went double whammy this time. Apple had reduced the price of iPhone 5S from Rs. 45,000 to Rs. 35,000. And just after four months, they have given it another major cut by bringing down the official cost to Rs. 22,500.
It must be noted that iPhone 5S has been selling on popular e-commerce websites, like Amazon and Flipkart, for around Rs. 25,000 for a while. So the price drop isn’t as drastic if you consider the online marketplace. Currently, the new prices are hovering around Rs. 21,500 for iPhone 5S. Nonetheless, retail sales of the phone are bound to shoot up and the Apple family is predicted to grow bigger and stronger.
iPhone 6S: Available at Rs. 49,500 Continuing with its newfound aggressiveness, Apple has already started offering big discounts on iPhone 6S. You can now buy the 16GB iPhone 6S for as low a price as Rs. 49,500. That’s a discount of almost 20% just within four months of its launch!
The caveat here is that these discounts are available only on online stores. The prices at authorized Apple centers are the still same. We did check with some third party retailers, though, and they too are selling the phone at discounted prices. In other words, the official prices haven’t changed, but you can easily get big discounts from online and retail sellers.
We have to say that we are equally surprised and happy with this sales push by Apple. iPhone 5S is an absolute steal at Rs. 22,500 and, although two years old, it can put many of the latest Android phones to shame. iPhone 6S, on the other hand, is now selling at a price that it should have launched at in the first place.
All in all, Apple is making a very strong case for itself at both the entry level and premium end of the smartphone market. Well done, Apple!
So whats the justification for this price slash. Those sold for 35k were over priced cheating the INDIANS or the ones sold with lowest price now are of low quality…
Harish, it’s neither. Price reduction of older models is a standard industry practice. It doesn’t imply that the earlier price was unjustified or the products at lower cost are lower quality. In most cases, it’s just that the company has recovered its costs, and is now looking to capture the market, rather than make profits.
Yes, in this case, Apple has dropped the price twice in quick succession, but it’s a marketing decision more than anything else. iPhone 5S is now the entry-level iPhone in India and Apple wants to bring in maximum people into their ecosystem.
Also, the strong competition from One Plus series has made Apple enter the price wars in this big market. Rest assured that the quality remains the same.