A new rumor surfaced that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may bring back their 8GB iPhone 4 to entice India buyers. The unnamed source first reported this to The Economic Times.
Apple brings back old iPhone 4 to entice buyers
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been struggling in India’s market thanks to competition from Android-based devices, most particularly Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930). The tech giant will price the older model around 15,000 through EMI schemes as well as buyback. This is comparable to the old price of Rs 26,500 and the price of the current iPhone 5S which retails for 53,500.
The Cupertino-based tech giant halted production for the older phone last summer. This means the company may have to source the unsold iPhone 4 devices throughout the world. One unknown senior executive for a popular retail chain said, “While there is still a latent demand for the iPhone 4 due to its attractive price in India, the model has lost favour in matured markets and hence it may not make sense for Apple to start fresh production since it follows economies of scale.”
Apple wants to capture India’s market
When Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) decided to stop selling the 8 GB iPhone 4 during the last quarter, the tech giant garnered value share. Unfortunately, it also relinquished ground for unit sales with the latest iPhone model not meeting anticipated numbers nor having presence below 30,000 segment.
Economic Times added, “Apple’s market share in the Indian smartphone market peaked to more than 4% in October-December 2012 and January-March 2013 before dwindling to 1.4% in October 2013, according to CMR data. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930)’s share, in contrast, rose to 42% from 33% in the same period.
Another senior executive with a leading cellphone retail chain said Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s two distributors, Redington and Ingram Micro, “have sounded the trade out about a big relaunch of the iPhone4 8GB model as early as next week so that the company can take advantage of a Republic Day sales bump.”
Whether this rumor comes true will remain to be seen.
