Why the Indian market's an Apple-polisher

Why the Indian market's an Apple-polisher

Apple has slashed rates of the higher end version of its iPhone 6s and 6s Plus by Rs 22,000 in India, as it prepares to begin sales of its latest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus from October 7. The move is aimed at tapping aspirational buyers, who might not want to cough up the full price for the newer model and increase market share.

“The price drop won’t move the needle much,” said Neil Shah, director at Counterpoint Research. “However, with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle, it gives Apple a window of opportunity to attract premium Samsung customers, with attractive offers on the iPhone 6s and 7. This could bump up Apple’s share in the premium smartphone market to above 60 per cent from 47 per cent currently.”

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is facing a global recall due to faulty batteries that is a potential fire hazard.

Prices of the 128GB variants of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were dropped from Rs 82,000 and Rs 92,000 to Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000, respectively. Appleusually drops the rates of older generation devices in order to appeal to buyers, who might not want to splurge on the latest devices.

The 16GB and 64GB variants of last year’s iPhone models have been discontinued, and the company has introduced a 32GB variant of both devices. The new base variant of the iPhone 6swill cost Rs 50,000, while that of the 6s Plus will cost Rs 60,000. It isn’t clear if Apple will continue to sell the older iPhone 6 variants in India.Read more.