iPhone 4S bookings open at Rs 44,500

The latest version of Apple’s iPhone 4S is now open for pre-bookings in India, at a price which is more than that in other countries.

The 32 gigabyte(GB) version of iPhone 4S will cost Rs 50,900, while the 16 GB version will cost Rs 44,500 . Both Bharti Airtel and Aircel, who had earlier launched iPhone 4, would launch the phone on November 25. The delivery of these would start from November 24 midnight, they said.

iPhone’s latest version topped four million in sales, during its first weekend launch, in the US. This, however, may not be the case in India according to experts, due to the high price.

They said the price of the handset is around Rs 6,000-Rs 7,000 higher. “The price gap between the price of Apple products in the US and in India has been consistently growing. The gap was lesser for iPhone 4G and iPhone 3GS,” said Alok Shende, principal analyst and co-founder, Ascentius Consulting.

The prohibitively high price in India could sell higher in the grey market. “Apple products always sell a lot more in the grey market. They give it at a much cheaper price because they do not pass through customs etc. If there are any sales, it could happen there,” said a sector analyst who refused to be quoted.

iPhone 4S is regarded by many Apple fans, as only a slight improvement of its earlier much popular handset iPhone 4. It comes with a faster microprocessor, and a much better camera at eight megapixel, as compared to the five megapixel camera of iPhone 4.

“There is not much difference between both the phones. The screen resolution is very good with my phone itself,” said Sourabh Chakraborthy, an Apple fan who bought iPhone 4, six months ago.