Sticker shock: Apple hikes prices of iPhones by 29%

Apple might have been forced to hike the price of iPhone 6 by 29 percent in the country as the company’s new smartphone, iPhone SE, saw a poor response selling only a few thousand units

By: HT CORRESPONDENT
| Updated on: Apr 26 2016, 14:01 IST
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Apple might have been forced to hike the price of iPhone 6 by 29 percent in the country as the company’s new smartphone, iPhone SE, saw a poor response selling only a few thousand units
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Apple might have been forced to hike the price of iPhone 6 by 29 percent in the country as the company’s new smartphone, iPhone SE, saw a poor response selling only a few thousand units

Apple might have been forced to hike the price of iPhone 6 by 29 percent in the country as the company's new smartphone, iPhone SE, saw a poor response selling only a few thousand units.

The company was on a discount-offering spree for the period of January-March 2016 and finally deceided to withdraw them in order to promote the sell of the SE.

"It was felt that SE, which was criticised for having a 'high price tag', will not be able to see much traction if prices of bigger-sized iPhone 6 and 6S devices are not corrected. So, the decision was taken to revise the price upwards," TOI quoted a source as saying.

Currently, the 16GB 4-inch iPhone SE sells at 39,000 while a similar specked (16GB) version of iPhone 6 is available at 31,000 and 6S at 40,500. "After the revision, iPhone 6 costs 40,000 and 6S comes for 48,000. We are trying to build a healthy buffer," the source added.

Read more: Not another iPhone SE review: You might just fall for the small screen

The current decision will also see a 22 percent rise in price for the iPhone 5S which was selling at 18,000. The revised price is expected to be around 22,000. Apple has also come out with corporate offers and EMI plans to push sales.

The company had held a meeting before it launched the SE in India and had deceided to keep the stock of SE at a low level. The source said that the decision was a part of the new strategy to pitch the new iPhone more effectively.

The company seems to be worried as Samsung's new smartphones - Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge- saw better response and managed to sell nearly twice the numbers achieved by the previous-generation models in the same period.

Read more: Apple iPhone SE goes on sale in India, here's what you need to know

"Another problem for SE in India is the small screen size. Indians are increasingly buying larger screen-sized phones, even at the lower-end of the market. A lot of data is consumed on smart devices and smaller ones do not find much favour with buyers," sources said.

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First Published Date: 23 Apr, 13:43 IST
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