Apple iPhone 8 and 8 Plus India launch date hits grey market sellers hard

Apple has updated its marketing and sales strategy to make an impact in India

Apple's decision to start sales of its new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus smartphones in India just a week after their global launch may be welcome news for die-hard fans of the Cupertino-based tech giant's products but it has driven the cheer out of the country's grey markets, according to reports.

Apple will launch the new iPhones in India on September 29 with pre-booking starting from September 22. According to the Economic Times, this means that die-hard fans who would rush to grey market sellers in places like Mumbai’s Heera Panna market and Delhi’s Gaffar Market to get their hands on the latest iPhone, that too at a high premium, ahead of others who would wait for its official launch can now get their gadget of choice pretty much at the same time as the rest of the world sans the premium price. Consequently, these grey markets have hardly seen any pre-bookings this time, according to the financial daily.

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According to the financial daily, the date from when pre-booking starts is the same date on when Apple will be launching the new smartphones in countries like Singapore, China, the UAE, which are the places from where grey sellers mostly sourced these handsets in the past. The financial daily added that in the past, these grey sellers would command a premium as high as 50 per cent, making people shell out more than Rs 1 lakh in some cases for an iPhone.

As reported earlier, Apple has updated its marketing and sales strategy to make an impact in India, the world’s third-largest mobile phone market after China and the US.

ALSO READ: iPhone X: Apple makes a $999 gamble on its aspirational brand

The iPhones shipment used to reach Indian shores after a huge time gap and the actual sales of devices used to start even later. This time, the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will launch in India just a week after the US launch. The premium iPhone X will be rolled out in India along with the international rollout.

The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will go on sale starting September 29 at 6 PM, unlike the previous iPhone launches that used to go on sale at midnight in India. Apart from online sales through e-commerce platforms, the new iPhones will be available for purchase through offline retail stores and the sale will commence at the same time through online and offline channels.

Apple unveils iPhone X, with facial recognition, no home button, at $999

Tim Cook showed off the iPhone X with an edge-to-edge screen during an event

Apple Inc unveiled its most important new iPhone for years to take on growing competition from Samsung Electronics, Google and a host of Chinese smartphone makers.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook showed off the iPhone X with an edge-to-edge screen during an event at the company’s new $5-billion headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Tuesday. Cook pronounced the name "ten," but it’s written as "X". The device, coming a decade after the original model, is Apple’s first major redesign since 2014 and represents a significant upgrade to the iPhone 7 line.

Apple shares have gained about 40 per cent this year on expectations the new phone will reignite sales growth after a rare revenue decline last year. The iPhone accounts for almost two-thirds of total sales, and it’s a hub for most of Apple’s other products and services.

ALSO READ: Apple unveils iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, anniversary-edition iPhone X

The iPhone X, which will come with storage of 64GB and 256GB will start at $999, a pricey psychological threshold for consumers that Apple will try to overcome with augmented reality features and other new technology.“With expected innovations around AR, wireless charging, viewable screen size, OLED, and more, the next iPhone is clearly poised for its largest upgrade cycle yet,” Ben Schachter, an analyst at Macquarie Securities USA Inc., wrote in a note to investors ahead of the event.

ALSO READ: Apple yet to crack mid-range market

New Apple TV

Apple also upgraded its Apple TV set-top box to handle higher-quality video as competition from Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more, Roku, and Google heats up in the living room. The new Apple model can stream 4K video, which is much higher resolution than standard 1080p video, from the iTunes movie catalogue and other apps such as Netflix and Amazon’s video service, Apple said during the event. The box will also support HDR video, which shows a more accurate representation of colours. It starts at $179, versus $149 for the current model. The new box will be available for order on September 15, Apple said.

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The updated box, called the Apple TV 4K, has a new processor that’s twice as fast as the existing box and four times faster for graphics. Apple also previewed deeper integration of live television, allowing users to navigate between live news and sports streams via the company’s new TV app. (more)

Apple's iPhone 8 launch: 7 stocks to watch out for today

Apple Inc will unveil new iPhones today at its Apple Park 'spaceship' campus

When Apple Inc unveils new iPhones 8 on Tuesday at its Apple Park “spaceship” campus, there may be important clues for the watchers of seven semiconductor stocks.

Apple exerts a sun-like gravitational pull on the global electronics supply chain, affecting the pricing of commodities like flash memory chips - it consumes 18 percent of global supply. The iPhone maker can make or break small, specialty chip suppliers.

The final tally of semiconductor winners and losers will not be known until the devices ship and analysts rip them apart to examine the circuit boards. That will give insight into matters like the continued battle between Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc to supply so-called modem chips for mobile data.

ALSO READ: With a $1,000 price tag, Apple's iPhone 8 crosses a threshold

Even the limited technical information Apple gives on stage tomorrow could shed light on how several other companies are faring. Here are seven stocks to watch during today’s launch.

LUMENTUM

Lumentum Holdings Inc makes what are instead known as vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, or VCSELs for short. These are a key component of 3D sensors that could power some of the expected features of the new flagship iPhone, such as the ability to unlock the phone through 3D facial recognition.

The company said it has received $200 million in orders for these lasers since April. Lumentum says it has multiple customers, but most analysts believe Apple is behind the surge in orders.

What is not clear, however, is whether the new facial recognition features will be available on only the flagship model, likely named the iPhone X, or whether it will also be available on the anticipated iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.

FINISAR

Finisar Corp also makes 3D sensor lasers but specializes in a higher powered version of the technology with greater range. That sensor would be more suitable for the backside of an iPhone, to assist with features such as augmented reality, in which digital objects float over real objects on screen. (more)