 "Apple said to be prepping special buyback offers for iPhone 5c and 4s in India")
Apple plans to introduce some special buyback offers for its iPhone 5c and 4S in India, reports Business Today. The move is in order to push iPhone sales and compete with archrival Samsung, who enjoys a strong position in the Indian market, Nokia, as well as up-and-coming Indian manufacturers, led by Micromax.
Reportedly, dealers have started receiving emails from the official iPhone distributors about the buyback scheme. They’ve also received a list of smartphones that are applicable for exchange. The scheme will allow users to get a maximum discount of up to Rs 13,000 in exchange of a smartphone. Dealers are likely to earn a commission of Rs 2,000 per device under the scheme.
Will buybacks help push 5c sales?
The list is likely to include BlackBerry Z10, Q10, iPhone 4 8GB, 16GB, Nokia Lumia 925, HTC Desire 500, Desire 600, One Mini, One Dual SIM, Samsung Galaxy Mega (5.8 and 6.3 inch both), S4 Mini, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 2, Note 3 and Sony’s Xperia C, Xperia ZR, Xperia Z, Xperia Z1 and Xperia Ultra. The terms and conditions will include that the phone has to be in working condition and preferably with all accessories.
Research firm Gartner says that Apple’s 5c is ’too highly priced’ for emerging markets like India, aiding iPhone 4S to be the volume driver. It also says that in mature markets like the US and Europe the price difference between the iPhone 5c and 5s is not enough. “In emerging markets, the iPhone 4S will continue to be the volume driver at the low end as the lack of subsidy in most markets leaves the iPhone 5c too highly priced to help drive further penetration,” Gartner said.
Earlier, multi-brand retailer Vijay Sales had started a buyback scheme for the iPhone 5c that allowed users to avail of a discount of Rs 12,000 in exchange for the iPhone 4. However, there was no such deal put forth by other dealers then. This latest buyback scheme is said to roll out starting today, but there is no confirmation from majority of the retailers about their support for it. The 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants of the iPhone 5s are priced at Rs 53,500, Rs 62,500 and Rs 71,500 respectively. The 16GB and 32GB iPhone 5c is priced at Rs 41,900 and Rs 53,500 respectively.
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