Why Apple is bullish on iPhone 6S in India?

While iPhone maker Apple generally flushes out its entry level products to give way for new generations of iPhones, but Apple wants to keep iPhone 6S in India a little longer. The iPhone 6S is already in its fourth year has now received a new advertising campaign in India. The company is now marketing iPhone 6S as ‘Made in India’ and is available for an irresistible price of Rs 26,910.

Apple started manufacturing iPhones in India starting with iPhone SE in 2017. The company has now added iPhone 6S in its ‘Made in India’ campaign due an increase in import duties from the Indian government. In October last year, import duties were hiked again forcing Apple to scale its manufacturing base in India and to have a larger foothold in the Indian smartphone market which is also world’s second largest market.

But for Apple, the bigger challenge is that it doesn’t have great devices in affordable range that can compete with Chinese smartphone makers including Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme, etc. that keep on launching good devices with compelling features at a relatively affordable price.

In 2018, iPhone 6 was the most popular iPhone in India, but both the iPhone SE and iPhone 6S are now older devices. Thus, with a new marketing campaign in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Made in India’ initiative, Apple is looking to further boost its sales in India with the iPhone 6S.

As Apple has a brand loyalty, people won’t mind giving Rs 26,910 for an iPhone 6S. But, for Apple to be a game changer, the company needs to start manufacturing more premium devices locally to bring down the prices. Currently, iPhone Xs Max retails for over a lakh in India.

According to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung surpassed Apple for the leadership position in the premium segment with an overall share of 36.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2019 due to its newly launched Galaxy S10 flagship series that was supported by huge marketing campaigns.

It seems like, Apple is taking inspiration from its South Korean rival and now marketing iPhones as ‘Made in India’ devices. A good start!