Will new iPhones win over the India, China markets?
By Dileep Thekkethil
Apple has launched its first ever truly affordable but “powerful” 4-inch iPhone, the iPhone SE, at its Cupertino campus in California, on Monday.
The new iPhone will be available for $399 (Rs. 26,000) – 16GB; and $499 (Rs 33,000) – 64GB, making the iPhone SE the most affordable smartphone ever introduced by Apple. This essentially also means that Apple will have five smartphones up in the market – iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, 6S Plus, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which itself is a rarity.
The announcement of the new iPhone SE was made by Apple Vice President of Product Marketing.
Apple will start accepting orders for the new iPhone SE from March 24 and will be open till March 31st. Interestingly, even though the device is aimed at emerging markets like India, people may have to wait a little bit as the iPhone SE is currently only available in countries like Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Portico Rico, Singapore, UK and of course, in the US.
Apple promises that, the new iPhone SE will reach over 110 countries by the end of May 2016. According to latest update, the iPhone SE will be available in India from April but the price will be much higher than expected as the company now says the 16 GB model of iPhone SE will be priced at Rs 39,000. During an earlier announcement, Apple said that the iPhone SE will be available in India at Rs 30,000 but has issued a press release announcing the change in the price.
iPhone SE is not a device that Apple intended to roll out even in their wildest dreams, until the shocking report about the alarming decrease in the sales of Apple’s most successful product. It prompted the company to think about a low-cost alternative that could lift its sales in emerging economies like India and China.
The iPhone SE will mark the comeback of Apple’s 4-inch smartphone which the company discontinued three years back. Also, this is not the first time that Apple is launching a device aiming at users who don’t like to spend much. iPhone 5C, the plastic version of the iPhone 5S was Apple’s first attempt to woo price-sensitive customers, but it was a disaster and the company had to discontinue the device when it launched the iPhone 6.
One of the reasons why the iPhone 5C failed was the slender price difference with the company’s flagship device. When the plastic iPhone 5C was priced ($629) Rs, 41, 900; the metallic 5S was sold at ($840) Rs. 53,500. According to analysts, a person who could afford a smartphone worth 41K, without a second thought, will prefer a better iPhone.
iPhone SE will have to face tough competition as brands such as Xiaomi, OnePlus and arch rivals Samsung still dominate the smartphone business in emerging countries, including India and China.
Even though Apple has surpassed Xiaomi in India to become the sixth most bought smartphone, it has to be noted that the Chinese brand is not competing with Apple directly in the mid-range as they focus more on budget smartphones.
It is expected that Apple will reduce the price of older versions of the smartphones in the coming days. iPhone 6 and 5S are currently selling at a price range of ($500) Rs. 31,000 and ($390) Rs. 26,000, respectively.
Apple can boost the sales of iPhone SE in India be bringing down the cost of its older smartphone below ($300) Rs. 20,000. There were rumors that when Apple launches the iPhone SE, they might slash the price of the old iPhone 5S to ($225) Rs. 15,000.
By reducing the price of the older versions of iPhones, Apple can reach out to more customers in India who are price sensitive. The budget smartphone segment with a price range of ($150) Rs. 10,000 – Rs. 15,000 is one of the hottest in India and if Apple can reach out to this category, it can increase the customer base in the country.
Such a scenario was predicted by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kou. He recently said that the electronic giant might slash the price of its two-year-old iPhone model, the iPhone 5S to Rs. 12,000.
iPhone SE sports a 4-inch display and will share the looks of the flagship model iPhone 6S, but with a smaller frame. The device will be powered by Apple’s A9 chipset and will have new features introduced by Apple such as Apple Pay and Live Photos.
The new iPhone SE features a 12 MP rear camera and a 5 MP front camera with the capability to shoot videos in 4K quality. Added features of the camera are, Focus pixels, Retina Flash, Live Photos, 63 MP panorama, Slow Motion video recording up to 240 fps.
Apple claims that iPhone SE will have the same processor used in iPhone 6S, which has double the speed of iPhone 5S. It will also have the same GPU of iPhone 6S, giving seamless graphics to the users.
The company boasts that the new iPhone SE will have improved battery life and faster LTE, WIFI and Bluetooth. It will also feature Wi-Fi calling facility.
One of the biggest hurdles that iPhone SE has to tackle is the competition put in by mid-level Android smartphone. One of the greatest advantages of the Android OS is that it can be tailored to both low end and high end smartphones and this is one of the down sides of Apple’s iOS.
The reasons why Apple remains one of the preferred premium smartphone is because it has fewer competitors in the respective segment. Even though Samsung and Blackberry played a key competitor role initially, their dominance is now fading.
With Apple now entering the mid-range, the completion will be between iOS and Android as people will start buying smartphones with regard to the popularity of the operating systems rather than the performance.
Apple has also unveiled its new iOS 9.3 operating system which includes a night mode that reduces blue light and automatically shifts colors to the warmer end of the spectrum at night helping the user sleep better.
“Many, many customers have asked for this,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook during Apple’s launch event. “And I think they’re going to love it.”
Last year, Apple sold 30 million 4-inch iPhones.
Apple also launched a new lightweight 9.7-inch iPad Pro which is touted as 40 percent less reflective than an iPad Air 2.
It also features a new technology called “True Tone Display”, which measures the color temperature of ambient light and adjusts the display to match. Like the iPhone SE, the Pro also takes advantage of iOS 9.3’s new blue-light reduction feature for late-night use.
It is powered by the A9X processor and has a similar four-speaker system. Apple said it is twice as loud as the Air 2. The new tablet is compatible with the Pencil stylus introduced last year.
Other accessories include a new Lightning-powered SD card reader and USB camera adapter.
For pictures, the new iPad Pro steps up to a 12-megapixel rear camera, complete with focus pixels, dual-tone flash, and Live Photos.
An ultimate “PC replacement”, iPad Pro can shoot 4K video, has a 5MP FaceTime camera and retina flash, The Verge reported.
In addition to announcing the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, Apple also revealed a new smaller version of the Smart Keyboard accessory for the device.
The new iPad Pro will be available in four colours – space grey, silver, gold, and rose gold – and three size capacties, ranging from 32GB on up to 256GB.
The 32GB model will cost $599 while a 128GB version will be available for $749 and the 256GB top of the line for $899. LTE options will cost $130 more.
The company also dropped the price of it wearable watch to $299 (Rs.19,295) and launched new bands.
The company displayed a new space black version of the milanese loop, new colours for the sport and leather bands and a new woven nylon band. The new nylon band features a “four layer construction” and will come in seven different colours.
Earlier during the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook, referring to the ongoing battle with the US government over encryption to unlock an iPhone used by an attacker in a mass shooting in San Bernadino last year, reiterated the company’s commitment to protect its users’ data and privacy.
“We have a responsibility to help you protect your data and your privacy. We will not shrink from this responsibility,” Cook told the gathering, taking a dig at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“We built the iPhone for you, our customers, and for many of us it is a deeply personal device,” he added.
The company also revealed that it fully runs on renewable energy in 23 countries.
According to the Telegraph live coverage, Apple has built a machine called Liam that can deconstruct an iPhone into its components to recover high quality materials and reintroduce them into the supply chain.
“For example, the silver from the motherboard can be used in solar panels. Eventually, Apple wants to recycle the parts into new iPhones,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said at the event.
“Take your old product into an Apple store or visit its website and post it to the company,” she added.
Apple is expected to appear in a federal court in California on March 22 to fight the order and has accused the US Department of Justice of trying to “smear” the company with “desperate” and “unsubstantiated” claims.
The US government has been fighting Apple over access to information on the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers, Rizwan Farook, in December.
Apple says the demands violate the company’s rights and has argued that the government is asking for a “back door” that could be exploited by the government and criminals.
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