All you need to know about Apple's plan to bring refurbished iphones to India

Govt not keen on refurbished phones, Tim Cook defends plan, says it is not 'dumping'

There’s a noticeable buzz around refurbished phones ever since Apple’s proposal to sell such products in India was rejected.    

A refurbished mobile phone refers to a handset that was returned to the manufacturer, tested for problems and restored to full-functioning in factory-standard condition. While these phones are sold at a highly discounted price, they come with requisite guaranties and warranties from the manufacturer. But, the manufacturer has to clearly state that a phone is refurbished at the time of selling it.

The overall size of the refurbished phones market could be as much as $14 billion by 2017 of which $3 million would be from India, estimates suggest.

The company claims that it has tough quality standards and does rigorous checks before selling such products.  

“Apple Certified Refurbished Products are pre-owned Apple products that undergo Apple's stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. While only some units are returned due to technical issues, all units undergo Apple's stringent quality refurbishment process,” the company says on its website.

Even as Apple CEO Tim Cook did all things Indian—from visiting Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai to mingling with Bollywood stars to watching an IPL cricket match in Kanpur—there hasn’t been a green light from the government for Apple to sell ‘refurbished’ iPhones in the country. 

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Commerce Ministry, Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology have all shot down Apple’s plans of selling refurbished iPhones in India stating that they will not allow ‘dumping’ of phones in India. 

“We are open to them manufacturing phones in India. We will help them in every way possible. However we are not in favour of them selling refurbished phones here. India is not a dumping ground and we will not allow any multi-national to think so,” said a senior IT Ministry official.

“Apple wants to bring all these phones to India as its market share is just a mere 2 percent. With refurbished phones which would obviously be sold at lower price it plans to increase its market share,” added the ministry official. 

He also said that the government wants electronics manufacturing to reach $400 billion by 2020 and wants India to be import free. “The government is not agreeing to it as first they strongly believe that India is not a small market where a large multi-national can come and sell used mobile phones, plus it has a ‘Make In India’ agenda to push. That is why the nod would not be given,” he said.

While in India, Cook defended Apple’s plans to sell refurbished phones in the country in various interviews, arguing it’s not  ‘dumping’. Apple sells refurbished  iPhones in other markets too including in the United States and Japan, he said. 

“First of all, we would never ‘dump’ anything; this in virtually all countries in the world we have a process by which a phone that’s been used by the first owner or is taken back and made to be new, if you will, and a warranty is placed on that, just like a warranty for a new phone. And it’s sold for a more affordable price and that happens in several countries. What we want to do is do the act of bringing it back to this pristine level, we want to do that in India for the Indian market,” he had told a news channel during his visit to India.

How does Apple refurbish its products?

Each Apple Certified Refurbished Product:

· is fully tested (including full burn-in testing).

· is refurbished with replacement parts for any defective modules identified in testing.

· is put through a thorough cleaning process and inspection.

· is repackaged (including appropriate manuals, cables, new boxes, etc.).

· includes either the Mac OS originally shipped with the unit or, in some cases, a more recent version.

· is given a new refurbished part number and serial number.

· is placed into a Final QA inspection prior to being added to sellable refurbished stock.

Refurbishment procedures follow the same basic technical guidelines as Apple's Finished Goods testing procedures.

Source: Apple.com