Would you like to buy an iPhone in India? Then we can certainly help you by surveying the iPhone price in India online. It is no accident that if you’re reading this, chances are the iPhone has caught your attention. Being the world’s most popular smartphone today, Apple is certainly a unique success story, successfully reviving not only their Mac computer product line, but in toppling their rivals in the smartphone market as well with a single smartphone, the iPhone. Since its first launch back in 2007, Apple has been consistently releasing a yearly update to the iPhone, culminating with the iPhone 4S just end of last year 2011. Besides the 4S, the earlier two models, the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, are still officially sold worldwide to this day at lower prices.
The iPhone first appeared in India back in August 2008, when Airtel and Vodafone launched the 2nd generation iPhone 3G. This was then followed by the 3rd generation iPhone 3GS in early 2010. At this time, the iPhone price in India was relatively high, with the iPhone 3G 16GB going at Rs. 34,135/- and the iPhone 3GS at Rs. 35,500/- for the 16GB and Rs. 41,500/- for the 32GB at their respective times upon launch. With the available contracts not being encouraging enough to consumers and the lack of an official Apple Online Store in India till today, this is probably why the iPhone seemed to be more successful in some other countries at this point.
The next model, the iPhone 4, was introduced in India a year later by Airtel and Aircel on 27 May 2011. Coming in a year after its initial launch in the US, the iPhone 4 price in India was launched under both carriers at Rs.34,500/- for the 16GB model, and Rs.40,900/- for the 32GB model. Both Airtel and Aircel offer data plans with the iPhone 4, with saving options via EMI monthly payments.
Under Airtel’s data plan, there are monthly EMI options of Rs. 600, 1000, 1600 and 2001, which would provide you with a variety of call minutes within the Airtel network, SMS messages, and 3G mobile data. Naturally, the higher monthly payments would result in correspondingly higher monthly rebates on the iPhone 4. For example, paying the highest EMI of Rs. 2001 would result in a rebate of Rs. 908, which adds up to about Rs. 22,000 over 24 months, which is quite a discount off the Rs. 34,500 that you would originally pay for an iPhone 4 16GB.
While Aircel carries the same iPhone 4 price online in India, with the usual bundled minutes, SMS and 3G data, their plans are quite different. On their Premium Plan with a monthly EMI of Rs. 2139, you would get a rebate of Rs. 1440, which pretty much adds up to the price of the iPhone 4 16GB itself over 24 months.
Finally, we have the latest iPhone 4S that arrived in India on a much more timely basis than its predecessors, being launched in India on November 25, 2011, just a month after the October release in US.
Checking the iPhone 4S price in India online, unfortunately the retail price is among the highest in the world, with the 16GB going at Rs. 44,500 (about 35% higher than the US$649 price in the US), the 32GB at Rs. 50,900, and the highest-end 64GB at Rs. 57,500. While getting the iPhone in other countries might seem like a great workaround, the reality is that your iPhone 4S warranty is not international, and is only valid in the country of purchase.
Surveying some major online retailers, BuyThePrice.com offers the iPhone 4S at the same retail price, but with the inclusion of a 1 year warranty and free shipping. Another prominent retailer, ShopYourWorld.com, offers a discounted price at Rs. 43,100 for the 16GB model only, while both the 32GB and 64GB models are more expensive at Rs. 51,500 and Rs. 59,900 respectively. The best iPhone price in India online that we could locate for the 32GB iPhone 4S was at saholic.com at Rs. 49,049 with free shipping and a 1-3 days delivery time, while yebhi.com offers the 64GB at Rs. 54,249 with free shipping and a delivery time of 2 days.
Under the two major carriers Airtel and Aircel, both of these carriers have 50% rebate plans on the iPhone 4S that effectively give you half of your money back. Under Airtel, there are various plans to choose from, starting from Rs. 600 per month to Rs. 1000, Rs. 1600, and Rs. 2000/month; so you would effectively be getting back half of these amounts respectively on a monthly basis, which works out to be a savings on the cost of the iPhone that would be realized over the contract’s 24-month duration.
The 2nd carrier Aircel also offers similar 50% money back plans over 24 months, with the cheapest plan starting at Rs. 950/month for the iPhone 4S 16GB with a Rs. 930 money-back discount. The 32GB model costs Rs. 1150/month with a Rs. 1060 discount, while the 64GB goes at Rs. 1350/month with a Rs. 1200 discount.
With the iPhone 4S being the current model today, similar to the other countries, the earlier 2 models can also be obtained in India in their downsized 8GB variants. The cheapest price we located for the iPhone 3GS 8GB in black only was Rs. 18,818 at sulekha.com, while the iPhone 4 8GB was found on saholic.com at Rs. 36,799, which is strangely more expensive than the earlier price of Rs. 34,500 of the iPhone 4 16GB when it was first launched.
To conclude this survey on the iPhone price in India online, it is good that there are many choices you can choose from in sourcing the iPhone from online retailers besides the two major carriers Airtel and Aircel, in order for you to get the best deal and price that best matches your needs and budget. Though it’s a pity that the iPhone prices in India are still relatively higher than most other countries, let’s hope that Apple changes this for the better in future.
