Prices of
the older iPhones in India have increased in the last one week, reportedly
because people are buying the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6S that are better value
for money compared to the recently-launched iPhone SE. Now to save the iPhone
SE from the competition from other iPhones, retailers seem to have increased
the price of the older iPhones. According to Economic Times, Apple has sold
only a few thousand units of the SE in India. The hike, as per the report, can
be as high as 29 per cent in the case of the iPhone 6.
Although
it is possible that the prices may have been "corrected". Of late,
the older iPhones were selling at prices that were significantly lower than
their MRPs. But now their prices are closer to MRPs. But it is also possible
that Apple may not have anything to do with it. It is likely that prices may
have gone up in response to a recent government directive on e-commerce that
aims to curtail heavy discounts available from online retailers.
Apple has
priced the iPhone SE base 16GB variant at Rs 39,000 in India. But until last
week the iPhone 6 16GB could be purchased for as low as Rs 31,000 while the
current-generation iPhone 6S (base model) was selling for around Rs 40,000. As
expected, this puts the iPhone SE in a tight spot.
Nowadays
the iPhone 6 costs as high as Rs 40,000 while the price of the iPhone 6S could
go all the way up to Rs 48,000. It has also been reported that Apple is looking
to hike the price of the iPhone 5S by as much as 22 per cent.
Only
recently, the company started a corporate leasing programme for the iPhone SE
by offering the phone for just Rs 999 per month for two years. It also started
similar offers on the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6S for Rs 1,199 and Rs 1,399 per
month. It is yet to be seen how the renewed pricing affects its corporate
leasing programme.
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