Apple to boost iPhone sales in India by reviving old models

by Plamen Dimitrov / Mar 08, 2017, 8:12 AM

Apple to boost iPhone sales in India by reviving old models

Apple's ambitious approach for India is as amusing as it is admirable – Cupertino is famous for producing premium phones with premium price tags, yet the company is doing everything in its power to breakthrough in a market where most smartphone purchases are made for $150 or less.

After trying to negotiate tax and trade concessions with the Indian government and strong indications that an iPhone assembly plant is under construction in the southern city of Bangalore, now comes the news that Apple has reintroduced the iPhone 6 in the country. Interestingly, this is happening after the model was discontinued due to the iPhone 7 premiere in Q4 2016.

CNET reports that the 2014 flagship has appeared on Amazon.in on Monday. The retail price for the device is around 30,000 rupees (about $450) and the handset is only available in its Space Gray color variation. This is an expected and noticeable price cut from the newer iPhone 6S, which sells for around $750 in the South Asian country.

We completely understand Tim Cook & Co.'s big aspirations – after all, India has a huge population, and has become a key phone market that is expanding at breakneck speeds. Still, we feel obliged to state the obvious - $450 is nowhere near $150.

via CNET

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26 Comments

1. Tyrion_Lannister unregistered

LMAO. That isn't going to work.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 8:25 AM 14

2. Stranger

Posts: 73; Member since: Jan 19, 2017

It actually depends on how they reintroduce the older models and what are the changes they will make in them IMO. In India iPhones are looked more as a luxury product than as a miniaturized computing device.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 8:36 AM 1

4. Stranger

Posts: 73; Member since: Jan 19, 2017

IMO they should have reintroduced the 6 in rose gold or even jet black color

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 8:55 AM 0

6. nokia12

Posts: 610; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

This is totally going to work and always has.. Apple is a fashion and prestige brand ... more so in a country like India because these phones are out of reach for most people.. this automatically makes them rare , and luxurious

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 9:49 AM 0

8. RajRicardo

Posts: 503; Member since: Feb 28, 2014

You still live in 2014. Apple is no longer considered a fashion and prestige brand in India. It's just another overpriced piece of tech. And yes most people don't buy iPhones 'coz they don't need one unlike the westerners who are trapped in Apple ecosystem.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 9:54 AM 11

12. trojan_horse

Posts: 5868; Member since: May 06, 2016

"And yes most people don't buy iPhones 'coz they don't need one unlike the westerners who are trapped in Apple ecosystem.". Couldn't have said it better!

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 10:24 AM 11

13. nokia12

Posts: 610; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

maybe you are living in 2060 .. as long as it is expensive , it will maintain it's luxuary status Apple Grabs 66% Of Premium Smartphone Sales In India , Samsung only 23 % http://www.ubergizmo.com/2016/11/apple-66-percent-sales-india/ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/tech/hardware/apple-iphone-sales-in-india-up-by-50-for-fiscal-ending-september-2016-tim-cook-highlights-jio-tie-up/articleshow/55062847.cms

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 10:24 AM 0

15. RajRicardo

Posts: 503; Member since: Feb 28, 2014

"Apple Grabs 66% Of Premium Smartphone Sales In India..." Hence they are not considered 'rare' and 'out of reach'. The guy who drives me from work to home owns an iPhone 6. Can't consider something 'luxurious' when everyone around is having one. :/

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 10:40 AM 6

17. nokia12

Posts: 610; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

Exactly !! Ask your driver why did he buy an iphone 6 ? if he earns an average driver salary ( around 10-14k per month , because there are drivers that earn 50-90k per month ) he must have saved up for many many months in order to be able to afford that.. going "out of his reach" .. Because it is a luxury he took the pains to save up for months to spend on a "phone" that he is probably going to use it to only make calls and whatsapp , listen music , because it brings him that prestige , show off value Would he do the same for a Samsung phone ? It is rare because how many drivers to do you see having iphone 6 ? you and everyone around you may be able to afford multiple iphones ,but that is not true for most indians , hence rare and out of reach only 2.5 million iphones are sold in a YEAR in india.. compare that to around 120 million "SMARTPHONES" sold in india in a a year in 2016 . around 2 % only , which is RARE

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 12:09 PM 0

19. marorun

Posts: 5029; Member since: Mar 30, 2015

Nokia12 buying something thats inferior to what you can get for a lower price just because of brand is acting like a idiots. Its quite simple i had a choice for a gift from my wife for the 5 years we are together. A 5k rolex or a 5k luxury watch from less known brand. I took the second option as its was fully made of gold and not plated like the rolex and had more gems of higher quality on it. Its still lifetime warranty and had all the same capacity as the rolex. So i dont see the point of your arguments as its worthless if you buy phone for prestige you a idiot sorry.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 2:00 PM 1

23. nokia12

Posts: 610; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

ofcourse it is stupidity /ego inflation , and where did i say this is a good thing ? all i said , apple is treated as some sort of prestigious, luxury brand in the eyes of indians and their strategy will work and has been working already as they have 66 % of premium phones sales..

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 2:54 PM 0

25. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

iPhone's are not premium. It doesn't matter if they grab 66% of that market, because they sell less than 4M phone in the whole country in a year. This is why you need ot avoid stupid percentages because they mean nothing. What is Apple market-share in India? Accroding to this article -http://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/Apples-smartphone-marketshare-falls-by-35-in-India-Report/articleshow/53569868.cms In Q2 2016, apple shipped 800,000 phones to india. SO lets just take that numbers and assume they shipped 3M phones to India in a whole year. So I am taking 800,000 phones X 4 Quarters to get 3.2M phones for a year. Follow? The article says Apple has a 2% market share in India. SO having 66% of 2% of a total market is nothign more than BS buddy. I love when you fools post articles like that because you all are too stupid to actually read the full context. Samsung may only have 1/3 the premium base, but the premium base of India is problem 0.1% of the population. Samsung has a 25% marketshare in India. Which means out of 25% market, 1/4th of the market has their premium models liek the Note or S for example, while the resy have cheap options. Those cheap options are at price points Apple cant match without regurgitating refurbished or predone BS phones...lol. Please explain 66% of 2% marketshare botherman! HAHAHAHAAH! Dude I fell out my chair laughing at you. Basically look at it this way. In Chicago where I live, our State/Province has 11M people. Chicago represents 3.5~4M of that number sin one city alone. So basically Apple shipped enough phones to India in a single year, to give almost every person in Chicago a single phone. Yet the population of our State wouldnt even own an iPhone. We represent 1/3 of our State's populous. Apple ship 3M phones to India last year, in a country that is nearly 4 times the population of the USA. Apple has 2% of the whole country of India which has 1.2B people living there and out of 2%, 66% of 2% can even afford to even buy an iPhone to begin with. So the fact is, based on the facts I presented, Samsung actually has more people in India using Premium Samsung's than apple has. Because Samsung has a 25% market in India where 23% of them are premium. While Apple has 66% of 2%. What 2% of 1.2B vs 25% of 1.2B????? DO THE MATH!

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 3:46 PM 2

28. nokia12

Posts: 610; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

Let me stick to facts... and leave all the childish mockery for you to do Premium phone in this context refers to phones priced above Rs 30,000 ( 400$ + ) read the article http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/mobile/googles-pixel-captures-10-premium-smartphone-market-share-in-india/55659473 1) So we both agree that this premium market is very very small .. so this is already a "RARE" market because it is out of reach for so many people.. my 1st claim - "It is out of reach for most indians" it is what the user Rajricardo was questioning , because even his driver has an iphone so it is not rare.. are we clear till here..? This is a rare and luxury market for most indians ? luxury because most people cannot afford easily considering economic status of indian population 2) Market share of Premium smartphone sales is as follows till October Apple - 66 % , Samsung - 23 % , Google 10 % , others 1 % google shipped - 33,000 units .. so total premium market in units fo that month - 3,30,000 .. apple - 2,17,800 Samsung - 75,900 Now this is where you messed it up .. This figure of 75,900 includes The galaxy Note and S series.. because they cost more than 400 $ Now Samsung has overall 25 % market share in india Correct .. and apple has only 2 % market share Correct Total Smartphone Sales in India in 1 year - 120 million approx , sales of apple - 2.5 million.. now assuming that all these 2.5 million Apple are premium phones because iphones cost more than 400 $ .. and apple share is 66 % of premium phones 2.5/66 x 100 = 3.7 million is the total premium market.. only 3 % is total premium phones out of total smartphone sales So Samsung - 0.85 million premium phones ( 23 % x 3.7 Million ) So samsung sells around 30 Million ( 25 % ) smartphones and Apple sells only 2.5 million Smartphones in a year... But Apple sells 2.5 Million of premium Smartphones in India and Samsung sells only 0.85 Million premium smartphones in india... So you see why your claim " Samsung actually has more people in India using Premium Samsung's than apple has.Because Samsung has a 25% market in India where 23% of them are premium " is super wrong ? Now coming to my other claim .. I claimed Apple is seen as a fashion, luxurious, prestigious brand in india compared to Samsung is this not true given apple owns 66 % of the premium market ? and samsung only 23 % of premium market compared to apple ? i hope you reply rationally

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 6:00 PM 1

29. kiko007

Posts: 7520; Member since: Feb 17, 2016

"This is why you need ot avoid stupid percentages because they mean nothing." #Trumpsupporterlogic

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 6:01 PM 3

30. sgodsell

Posts: 7533; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

Nokia12 as if Apple has 66% of the premium smartphone sales. Apple sold 2.5 million iPhones in India last year out of the 139 million smartphones that sold their in 2016. With the majority of Apples iOS sales, the top selling iPhone was the iPhone 5s. Premium maybe back in 2013 when it first came out, but certainly not today. What a joke, especially since over 330 million Indians now have smartphones.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 9:11 PM 1

27. mixedfish

Posts: 1565; Member since: Nov 17, 2013

Nope you are wrong, Apple dominated India's 'premium phone' category last year. There sales are just comparably low when you take on the whole market because the people tend to buy low end devices.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 5:55 PM 1

18. marorun

Posts: 5029; Member since: Mar 30, 2015

Good so when i go to india one day i can make fun of them with outdated phone sold at a premium :)

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 12:33 PM 1

11. phonearenarocks

Posts: 607; Member since: Mar 26, 2015

LOL! They should sell iPhone 3GS.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 10:19 AM 1

3. GreenMan

Posts: 2698; Member since: Nov 09, 2015

If Apple want a slice of that big BIG cake, then they ought to do better than that...! And by better, I mean MUCH better... Or do I mean MUCH WORSE...? Well, if Apple want to push products around the $150-200 mark then they ought to start churning out iPhone 5Cs with that ugly poly-carbonate body... And that 4 year old phone just can't hold a candle against a Motorola G4 Play, Nokia 5 or perhpas Samsung Galaxy J5 Prime... Alternatively, they can make an 'industrialistic' and rather 'formulatic' approach... Like a mainstream Snapdragon SoC and components running that glassy and glossy iOS...!!! An "AndroidOne" from Apple, of sorts...! #AppleOne Ah! Never going to happen...! Oh well, G'Day!

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 8:47 AM 3

20. marorun

Posts: 5029; Member since: Mar 30, 2015

Thats actually a good idea. Make it run android as well! Always wanted an iphone 7 soc running android thats would be a beast.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 2:01 PM 0

22. SleeperOne

Posts: 370; Member since: Feb 25, 2017

The iPhone 5C was a show of complacency on Apple's part, dead simple.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 2:26 PM 1

9. unwanted

Posts: 43; Member since: Oct 20, 2014

for the same $s will buy opo 3t, which make much sense and only who have all the easy money will is**t...

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 9:59 AM 6

14. trojan_horse

Posts: 5868; Member since: May 06, 2016

iPhone 6 for $450 in India, a market were the vast majotity of buyers seek the most bang for their buck, just isn't going to lure anyone away from the OnePlus 3T and the Xiaomi Mi 5.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 10:33 AM 6

16. nokia12

Posts: 610; Member since: Nov 19, 2013

buyers knowledgeable enough are very very less in number compared to general public.. Only techies spend more than 300 $ on xiaomi and one plus ... an average buyer would 9/10 times would buy a good Samsung model at that price .. or maybe a Vivo /Oppo nowadays because of the massive marketing they are doing ...

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 10:51 AM 0

24. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

I figured as much. What good is a 5 year old phone gonna do in India? Why woudl they take an old iPhone, when they already have cheap options with Samsung and others? Apple to cheap to simply build a newer lower costing device, bringing back some unsupported piece garbage from the past. Like when they brought back the iPhone 4. What good is it, when it wont even be upgraded past 7.1.2? What good is it, if the app you want requires iOS8 or higher? Just die Apple, and put us out of your misery.

posted on Mar 08, 2017, 3:34 PM 0

26. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

Even if Apple sells cheaper older iPhone in India, they are not going to have mor ethan single digit marketshare. India has a populous of 1.2B people. Apple has a 2% market-share in India. Samsung has a 25% share. In fact according to this articlehttps://techcrunch.com/2016/05/19/indias-top-smartphone-makers-come-under-pressure-from-chinese-rivals/ - As of Q1 2016, Samsung has a 26% marketshare in India. With stiff competition in China, coming to India; Samsung actually will have to fight to keep that double digit lead. However Apple fell so far down, they didnt even make this list -https://www.statista.com/statistics/269487/top-5-india-smartphone-vendors/ Samsung had an average 20%+ for a whole year. Apple fell from havign over 35% of India to what si now 2% and falling. Then Apple though goign to China would land them a windfall of cash. Turns out they failed because they can't match pricing. Apple needs to learn that countries with high populations are not goign to help, if they cant afford your product. In the USA, out of 350M people, at least 50% of our population can afford expensive stuff. In most Asian and India countries or similar, incomes are less for a month that I make in just a few hours of work. The Philippines has a population of 150M people. Yet on Globe Telcom which is the countries largest cell provider, sold less than 50,000 iPhone to its subscribers. In a country where the average citizens makes what is equal to $350USD per month or less than $5k per year. As of Dec 2013 "The annual median per capita income in India stood at $616, the 99th position among 131 countries." With an income of that low, that means almost NO ONE IN INDIA can afford an iPhone. Not everyone in the world cars about luxury brands or products that claim to be such when you cant even afford to look at them, no less buy them. Apple is goign to fail in India lek they did in China no matter what phone they sell. The only way Apple can gain ground, is they woudl have to sell an iPhone that can run IOS 10 for $150 or less. I fthey cant, no one is goign to leave a Samsung for an iPhone when they can get a Galaxy J for $150USD and it has Android 6.0 installed. Apple is high and so is anyone who thinks Apple will succeed in India. The cheapest iPhone right now is the 5S. It costs 17,000 Rupees or about $262USD according to this site -http://www.mysmartprice.com/mobile/pricelist/apple-mobile-price-list-in-india.html#subcategory=mobile&property=200088-200514. According to Samsung own sales numbers in India where they have a 25% market, Samsung has 23% of their Indians using premium models, while the rest but cheaper options. On that same site, Samsung cheapest Phone was 1200 Rupees, with most of its models in the 8000-12000 range. 164 phones from Samsung vs 39 from Apple...lol Apple doesn't stand a chance with China moving in with cheap phones at costs Apple cant match. And everyone else is selling a brand new phone.