Apple iPhone 9’s price in India might be lower than the 2018’s iPhone XR

Call it Apple iPhone 9, iPhone SE 2 or the iPhone SE 2020, the handset could be the first iPhones to launch in the H1 of this year and is said to be the company's yet another attempt at gripping a spot in the 'more affordable' smartphone market.

To brush up your memory, the Apple iPhone SE was launched in India at ₹39,000 back in 2016. From today's smartphone price standards, this looks like a really cheap Apple iPhone. But how much of a bump will we see in the iPhone 9's cost? While our guess is as good as yours, the rumoured specifications and features making rounds on the web may give us some idea.

Krish Sankar, a noted analyst at Cowen says that the iPhone 9 or iPhone SE 2 might be priced around $475, which roughly means ₹33,800. If this is any indication, one can expect the iPhone 9 to launch at around ₹37,000 or ₹40,000. Pricing it more could potentially kill the iPhone XR, which is currently priced at ₹47,000 and is technologically more advanced.

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If you go by the recent concept video, the upcoming iPhone 9 looks a lot like the iPhone 8. It is seen with a TouchID fingerprint sensor at the front with massive bezels at the top and bottom. Since the iPhone XR is currently priced around ₹47,000 and has better features like FaceID, design and 'bezel-less' display, the iPhone 9 might stick with sub- ₹45,000 segment. Also, with the missing OLED screen and FaceID the price may go lower. All the iPhones launched in the past couple of years, have FaceID and OLED screen (except for the iPhone XR). But on the brighter side, you are likely to see a newer processor, more battery, compact form factor, and some new colours.

With Apple iPhone 9, the company might aim to eat the ₹30,000- ₹40,000 market pie. This is something Samsung is also doing with the recently launched Galaxy Note10 Lite and S10 Lite. We also have Asus flagships, Poco and few others trying hard to get a good grip in the particular segment.

That said, nothing is confirmed for now and we are yet to see where the iPhone 9 or the iPhone SE fits in this grand scheme of things.