Roger Fingas
When it launches in India on April 8, the iPhone SE will still command a 36 percent price premium there versus the U.S. — likely keeping the device out of reach of most Indians, a report noted on Wednesday.
After taxes, a 16-gigabyte SE will cost 39,000 rupees ($586) in India, compared with about $430 in most places in the U.S., said the Wall Street Journal. Apple imposed a nearly identical margin on the iPhone 5s when it launched in India in 2013.
The margin on a 16-gigabyte iPhone 6s is closer to 30 percent, but at 62,000 rupees ($930), the device is even less affordable. The same model is priced a little over $700 in the U.S. post-taxes.
Apple holds under 2 percent of the Indian smartphone market, in no small part because four-fifths of phones sold in the country are priced under $150. Until February of this year, the iPhone 5c and even the iPhone 4S were still on sale in the region in an attempt to offer something reasonably price-competitive.
The company is seeking approval to import used iPhones for sale, but the motion is being opposed by leading forces in the Indian smartphone industry, including Intex, Micromax, and Samsung. The main concern is that Apple and other firms could simply flood the local market with cheap used imports.
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25 Comments
I never thought this phone was for India. I always thought this phone was for holdouts in western markets that didn't get a 6 or 6S because of the size. Off course the $399 price point was a bit of a surprise but if Apple is planning to sell it for almost $600 in India it will be a non-starter there. Unless they're also planning to continue selling the iPhone 5S there as well?
Other articles have pointed out India's very high import duties so it doesn't surprise me the final price is close to $600. India is trying to protect whatever mobile device manufacturers it has (none?) while still contracting with various computer vendors for call centers. Apple doesn't have to sell to everyone in every country.
As for selling used iPhones, I see no problem with that. I assume India is heavy into reuse and recycle, maybe not officially but I bet a lot of the people get whatever they can afford, so why not allow perfectly usable used iPhones. It's done in the US and it's not really affecting the new phone market.
Good! Apple should never lower themselves to playing around in the mud with all of the other el cheapo Android phone makers, selling phones that costs the same as the price of one meal. Selling devices at a loss or with little or no profit margins is how many Android phone makers operate, but that shit aint gonna fly here.
The iPhone SE surprised everybody, coming in at $400. That is an insanely great price for a very powerful phone.
I was looking at a chart earlier, from an iPhone SE review, where it was tested against a variety of phones, and damn, then iPhone SE is even blowing out many huge Android Phablet phones, which are weak and a total joke. And lets not even mention the battery life of the SE! It's killer, and blows most other phones away, including much larger phones which have larger batteries.
$400 is a great price for the SE. If it happens to cost a little more than that in certain countries, well that's the fault of those countries, with their gangster import rates, tariffs and taxes.
If somebody can afford an SE, great! If somebody can't, well then that's just too damn bad. Go buy something else. We can't always get what we want, now can we?
There's no point in selling in India if you can't make money. Let the bottom feeders worry about how much money they're willing to lose.