Experts believe sale of Apple iPhone Xs, XS Max to increase with the onset of Indian festive season

The sales of Apple iPhones including the newly-launched premium iPhone Xs and XS Max will pick up in India with the country entering the grand festive season from October 10, industry experts said on Wednesday.

Apple brought its much-awaited line-up of iPhones to India on September 28.

iPhone XS with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage costs Rs 99,900; 4GB and 256GB variant is priced at Rs 114,900 and the 4GB with 512GB variant will come for Rs 134,900.

"We don't have data yet but I think demand will be spread as the gap between festive season and new iPhone launches are definitely there," Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, told IANS.

"The Indian consumers will look for all the options and might end up purchasing iPhones near the festive season, beginning with the auspicious period of Navratri festival from October 10," Pathak noted.

For an Indian smartphone user, carrying an iPhone has always been a style statement, irrespective of the price, and those who are in the Apple ecosystem will generate demand for the new iPhones, sooner or later.

Apple has also slashed prices of old-generation iPhones in India.

According to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR), Apple is aware of the brand pull that iPhone has for aspirational India and that's why they have slashed prices for old-generation iPhones.

"While there would be a slight uptick for old iPhone sales, during and beyond the festive season, we believe they would be up for tough competition from other smartphone brands," Ram told IANS.

Apple is set to announce its fiscal fourth-quarter results on November 1 and will reveal iPhones sales globally.

Apple posted a revenue of $53.3 billion in its fiscal third quarter -- an increase of 17 per cent from the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 60 per cent of the quarter's revenue.

"With global warranty and comparatively high price in India, people may end up buying new iPhones from somewhere else," added Pathak.

According to Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, as per previous trends, the major demand is for the old model line-up with deep discounts and cash-back offers largely driven by e-tailers which accounts for more than 50 per cent of overall Apple volumes.

"If Apple decides to further lower the pricing of the previous line-up like iPhone 7, 8 and X, as the new models hit the market, there might be some action in the coming quarters.

The momentum will come "at the back of cashbacks, buyback offers and deep discounting, especially on the etailer platform during the 'Big Billion Day Sale' on Flipkart and 'The Great Indian Festival' on Amazon lined up from October 10 onwards," Joshi told IANS.

(With inputs from agencies.)