Apple iPhone 6 arrives on Oct 17: India high on Apple's radar this year

India has never been among Apple’s favoured markets for new devices, and was known to be the dumping ground for the longest time. Looks like, things are beginning to change now. Gone are the days when the latest iPhone would reach Indian markets only months and months after its launch elsewhere. Yesterday, Apple launched the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 as well as a 5.5-inch phablet variant iPhone 6 Plus and today the India website has instantly put up a ticker that the **iPhone 6** will hit stores by **October 17** .   Although it’s not the short wait that most Apple fans here want, but it’s still a massive improvement from how long we’ve been made to wait in the past. Previous iterations resulted in a spike in the grey market sales, with fans paying significantly more than the market price of the already-expensive devices. That’s not the case anymore as the new iPhones will come just a month after their US launch. This is the fastest ever iPhone roll-out for India, according to this report by Quartz, so it shows how far India has climbed on Apple’s pecking order. But there’s one thing Apple still cannot overcome in India, and that’s the price barrier.   In the US, contract-free pricing for the iPhone 6 starts at $649 (approx Rs 39,500) for 16GB and goes up to $849 (Rs 51,600) for 128GB. The iPhone 6 Plus will cost $100 more for each version starting at $749 for 16GB variant (Rs 45,500). It is quite likely that the iPhone 6 will be priced well over Rs 50,000 while the iPhone 6 Plus may even surpass the Rs 60,000 mark in India. That’s a huge asking price and it remains to be seen whether even the phablet crazy Indians will want to pay so much for an iPhone.   Apple isn’t among the top brands in Android-dominated Indian market, but we cannot strike out the possibility of a significant loyal fan-following. These Apple loyalists are likely to be among the ones who could rather opt to upgrade to the newer device. In India, it usually boils down to pricing, and this is one the reasons why companies like Micromax and Xiaomi are doing really well here. Even Samsung is finding out to it detriment that it’s products don’t offer enough value in an aggressive market. Apple’s attempt of wooing the Indian market with the ‘cheaper’ iPhone 5c didn’t really work either. In fact, the iPhone 5s was considered a better deal at just Rs 10,000 or thereabouts more.   In fact, even after the iPhone 6 is here, the iPhone 5s could continue to be a hotseller in India, assuming Apple plans to add a price cut to its current price tag in India too. Last year, after the launch of the 5s, the iPhone 4s and 4 became the best-selling Apple devices in the country and became its biggest revenue-generator in India. With the iPhone 5s and 5c, a similar spike could be seen in the next few quarters, to which the much higher-end iPhone 6 phones will add bulk. It also remains to be seen whether the iPhone 4S will be completely phased out of India. it could get a further price drop and continue to be sold at the sub-Rs 15,000 segment.   In the past couple of months, we’ve seen almost all mobile giants launch their premium range, but the big battle in the mid-range segment has made the high-end segment a boring place to be devoid of any great competition that will shale things up. Apple has two new iPhones coming to do just that, and Samsung too is waiting in the wings with the Note 4 series. If Apple manages to price its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus properly, it could even end up attracting some who are considering the latter.