The official invitation for the March 21 event which is to be held in its headquarters in Cupertino has created a huge buzz in India about the launch of a new product. As per assumption the new product is the new iPhone SE or special edition. The phone targets the emerging markets and has lower pricing as compared to its typical flagships.
The phone is supposed to be very similar to iPhone 6 and 6s and is powered by a faster A8 processor. The device will have a power button on top like iPhone 5. The phone features Wi-Fi, VoLTE and Bluetooth 4.2. According to Anshul Gupta, the new phone will excite people in India with the latest OS and attractive price point. The game plan is still not communicated by Apple headquarters to its India team. The trade partners are expecting a launch in the first phase in India. The gap between the launch time of the device for key emerging countries are expected to be three to four weeks by the Analysts.
A senior trade executive informs that Apple will start shipping of the new phone to India in the first phase. The fight between Apple and Samsung will lead to an expected price drop of iPhone 5s, which is now expected to be sold at INR 20,000. Ming-Chi Kuo, KGI Securities analyst, said that iPhone SE will be priced at USD 450 (INR 30,000 approx) and mid-tier pricing will be extremely attractive in India. Gartner’s Gupta says the smart phones are well suited for emerging markets like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Argentina and India.
Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research analyst, Tarun Pathak, said the price bracket of USD 500-550 will generate wide interest in India which is one of Apple’s key markets. Indian Smartphone market is growing at a high pace whereas developed markets face stagnation. Hence Apple may want to make most of the time here.
