While those in the United States and a number of other “first-tier” release countries will see the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus available for order Friday, September 9 those on the sub-continent in India will have to wait a little longer with India being in the second group of countries to see Apple’s new flagship offerings released. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will begin shipping to the buyers in the “first-tier” on September 16.
Apple has enjoyed strong India sales recently, expects the same with iPhone 7
Ahead of yesterday’s Apple event that saw iPad prices slashed while getting more storage, the unveiling of the Apple Watch Series 2 and the gorgeously constructed iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus many were weary about the event. Many tech writers and analysts alike, were fairly blase about the introduction of the new iPhone 7 often calling it a limited upgrade of the iPhone 6S and the iPhone 6S. You could argue that I’ve said and wrote something similar for the last four months, but I now believe that I may have missed the mark.
There is little question that the iPhone 7s shown to the world for the first time yesterday, are the most advanced smartphones that the maker of the first truly smartphone (I’m not counting BlackBerry) has ever produced. That said, being Apple, the phones they demoed are two of the most advanced phones ever made by definition.
While I don’t know how many people who rushed to purchase the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be upgrading, but I do know that any loyal Apple customer who skipped those models last year will be very tempted by the iPhone 7 and its blisteringly fast new A10 Fusion processor.
Apple announced that it was 40% faster than last years model which were about 45% faster than the iPhone 6s that preceded it. That’s a reason to upgrade especially if you need graphics rendering 50% faster than last year’s offerings as well.
And let’s face it, the new Jet Black offering is stunning. Apple described it as:
Crafted from bead-blasted aluminum, our new black model has a rich, deep matte finish. The high-gloss jet black finish was achieved through a new feat of design engineering — a remarkably precise, nine-step process of anodization and polishing. The end result is so purely and continuously black, you can’t tell where the aluminum ends and the glass begins. The dark side, indeed.
But a waterproof iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 is key
I’ve lived in India and between the skies opening up in monsoon season with rain that I can only describe as biblical, I also sweat like a fat person after four grams of good cocaine simply walking three (un) air-conditioned blocks. Waterproof is key and Apple surprised many.
This new feature will bode well in India where unlike most countries, Apple has seen its sales of the iPhone soar with the last two offerings of its flagships and this will likely be the case with the Indian release of the iPhone 7. Yes, it has more features to talk about but waterproofing and a starting price below the iPhone 6S with twice the storage (32GB) is massive in India.
Once again, the iPhone 7 will go on sale in India on October 7 at a price of Rs 60,000 for the 32GB iPhone 7 model.
The iPhone 6S had 16GBs when it launched last year with a price of at Rs 62,000.
Sales of the iPhone in India have been so strong for Apple that it even mentioned the price at yesterday’s event in San Francisco specifically knowing that consumers were watching.
Just a bit longer for you to wait India, but it’s on its way.
