Apple has conquered almost all markets in which it has done business, but it has failed to make a dent in India, which is one of the world’s biggest smartphone markets and much of that has to do with the pricing of iPhones in the country. The company has been actively looking for ways to boost sales in India, and over the past year, it has lost significant market share to companies like Oppo and Huawei among others. In a new development, it has now emerged that Apple is now going to slash the prices of its latest model of iPhones by as much as 25% in order to boost sales. The latest iPhone model iPhone XR may have been a rage all over the world but its sales have been muted in India, and after the success of a similar campaign in China, Apple has decided to do the same in the world’s second-biggest smartphone market.
For instance, the 64GB iPhone XR is priced at Rs. 76,900 in India, but since users are able to get similar features in much cheaper phones, they have stayed away from this range of phones. Apple has not only decided to offer deep discounts but also tied up with some credit card companies with regards to cash back plans, and according to report, a customer will not get a discount of around Rs. 18000 if he buys this model. The offer is currently available in this particular range of phones, but according to sources, the offer might extend to other models if the plan works and sales show an upturn. A source close to the developments stated, “Apple is going to change their game. They will start getting into the price game for other devices also depending on how their numbers shoot up.”
The economic downturn in China had affected Apple’s sales in a big way, and the company went for as many as two rounds of price cuts. Eventually, the sales picked up, but in India, it faces a totally different problem. The presence of many cheaper alternatives has made it possible for people to completely ignore iPhones and some of the brands which dominate the Indian smartphone market include Samsung and the major Chinese brands. An analyst at Canalys stated, “The focus of this entire (price cut) exercise is to win customers who would have thought of going to Samsung or OnePlus, to make them think whether they can spend some extra money on an iPhone XR – it’s more bang for the buck.”
