Apple may sell iPhone 4 in India to kick-start sales
Apple's lower smartphone sales and overwhelming competition from Samsung have prompted the company to offer the iPhone 4 to Indian consumers, says The Economic Times.
Apple reportedly is prepping to relaunch the budget-conscious 8GB iPhone 4 in India in an attempt to revive lagging smartphone sales.
To reach more buyers, Apple will cut the cost of the iPhone 4 to 15,000 Indian rupees ($243) from the original price of 26,500 rupees ($431), The Economic Times said on Tuesday, citing information from Apple's top four trade partners in India.
After launching in the country three years ago, the iPhone 4 was retired when the iPhone 4S, 5, 5C, and 5S debuted. However, the 5S starts at the high price of 53,500 rupees ($870), and Apple offers no phone in the sub-30,000 rupee category, according to The Times. Demand for the lower-cost 5C has failed to meet expectations.
"Apple's iPhone 4 8GB model used to rank amongst the top three selling models by unit sales and fight neck and neck with Samsung, but with its exit the company lost much ground," a senior executive at a top electronic retail told The Times.
However, Apple faces an uphill battle competing against Samsung, to which it has lost market share in India. Apple's slice of the smartphone market hit a high of 4 percent around a year ago before sinking to 1.4 percent last October, The Times said. Over the same period, Samsung's share surged from 33 percent to 42 percent.