Apple brings back iPhone 4 to India: Why you shouldn't be tempted

Apple is **reportedly bringing back the iPhone 4 to India** to boost sales which have fallen over the last quarter despite two heavyweight iPhones - 5s and 5c - being launched in the country.   The Cupertino company will be selling the 8GB version of the phone with heavy cashback and exchange discounts as well as **EMI schemes** to lure more buyers. This strategy **paid off for the company in the first half of 2013** , but things have changed quite drastically since then.   For one, the iPhone 4 is not the greatest option in terms of hardware in 2014. If you are looking to buy a phone that performs well, then there are several options in the same price range that Apple will reportedly target with the re-launch i.e Rs 23,000. We are not just talking about Android devices; two new Nokia Lumias have been launched that could also sway the buying audience. So Apple’s task is considerably harder now than it was six months ago.   Then there was iOS 7. Even if you are are lucky enough to have no installation and performance issues off the bat, Apple has crippled iOS on the iPhone 4 by trimming quite a few features out. The 3D Flyover or turn-by-turn navigation in Apple Maps is missing. Panorama mode or Filters are not present in the Camera app; there’s no AirPlay Mirroring, Siri, or AirDrop. On the iPhone 4, iOS 7 will look quite different too, thanks to the lack of translucency in the Notification Center or Control Center, live wallpapers, and the parallax effect. Reason? The iPhone 4 is just not powerful enough for smooth transitions.   The official Apple discussion forum is inundated with complaints about iOS 7 running terribly on the four-generation-old phone with application loading times stretched beyond what we could call comfortable, animation lag throughout the UI thanks to iOS 7’s longer-duration transitions, as well as stuttering orientation changing. Tweets from just this past week about iOS 7 on the iPhone 4 are broadly on the same lines as the ones below.

There are literally no good reasons to buy an iPhone 4 in this day and age. Instead, if you are looking for a smartphone, we would recommend the **Samsung Galaxy Grand 2** or the **Gionee Elife E7 mini** for the same price or even lesser than the iPhone 4 for a better user experience. But if you have your mind set on a new iPhone, the iPhone 4S or the **iPhone 5c** are better options, especially after applying the discounts from Apple’s various sales offers.