Apple won't sacrifice profit margins to make iPhone SE affordable in India
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.
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.
Comments
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.
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?
Oh the humanity of it, the poor people in India can not afford to buy a new iphone. If india was so worry about what the population can afford they would be do everything they could to help people make more like China is doing.
Instead they let US companies come in and set up shop and hire people there at 20% of what they would have gotten paid in the US. Everyone in the US should stop worrying about whether people in India can afford a new Iphone when companies are sending US tech jobs to India because their workers are willing to work for less than 1/2 of what we get paid here for the same job.
This is not like factory work where no one in the US want to work in a factory for $10/hr they all want to be a CEO. These are jobs which people in the US get paid $50K to $100K but in India they can hire 4 times as many people to do that same same thing, the interesting part they do not get it done 4 times as fast they slower but cheaper.
Done with Rant,
As it was pointed out the 5SE was not for India it is for the 60% of iphone users who did not want to upgrade to a bigger phone. Apple plans to sell used phones in India since they only care how cheap something is not whether it the best product they can own.
The point here is they don't really care about india. they are currently just trying to get some low hanging fruit with gimmicks like selling older models. if they need to compete in india, they need to manufacture (or atleast assemble) in india. They need to get their software services like maps usable here. Then they need to price their handsets similar to what it is priced in the US.
It's not about philanthropy, destratification of social classes, individual income, or even wages.
It's about profit.
And Apple is winning.
It would be better for Apple to pull completely out of India, before they would ever give in to any of your demands.
And no, Apple doesn't need to price it similar to what it is in the US, as the costs of iPhones vary all around the world. Different countries have different taxes, fees and import tariffs. If you don't like the price, blame your country.
However, I think looking at the historical pricing of the 4s, 5c & 5s in India sheds some light on what Apple may plan to do with the SE. Starting at $586 in India, by the time the SE reaches 4s status, the price will have dropped to around $175 again, and that's assuming they don't cut the price in half early like they already did for the 5s.
Likewise, Apple has a lot of room to drop the SE price as it depreciates along with the 6s. If they maintain the current $250 difference with the 6s, we can expect the SE to drop to $299, then $199 in the US, making it the most affordable iPhone ever sold in the US.
It is puzzling that Apple has seemingly eliminated the the lowest budget phones they were selling, but then again, perhaps they were counting on selling used phones which they're being prevented from doing currently.
What a bunch of entitled whiners who keeps playing the "we're so poor and pathetic" card because they just want luxury goods and not pay the price for it.
The ultimate irony is the well to do Indians like their Chinese cousins bordering at the north LOVE flaunting their status symbols and iPhones will sell well because of it.
Apple doesn't give a crap about your "huge growing market" if they can't make any money out of it, they shouldn't give a crap about your jobs either and thanks for proving my point.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
I'm so sorry so many Indians can't afford to buy their life-saving, hunger eradicating iPhones because Apple has no obligation outside of making a profit for themselves. Welcome to capitalism.