Apple's Diwali gift: iPhone 6 to arrive in India on Oct 17

The 16-GB version of iPhone 6 likely to start around Rs 53,500

The new iPhone siblings will be available in India about a week before Diwali, the country’s biggest festival. Apple’s India website says the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus will be available in India from October 17. That is almost a month after Apple’s latest offerings go on sale in the US on September 19.

The company has listed Indian telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Aircel as sellers of the new model. Apple’s new flagship smartphones will be available with all Apple resellers as well. Besides, some e-commerce sites are likely to get into selling pacts.

Apple, which has announced the pricing for the new phones for the US market, is mum on pricing for India where typically iPhones cost more. Apple has continued with the practice of keeping the prices unchanged for the new iPhone, that is $650 for the base model.

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• Apple has listed Bharti Airtel and Aircel as sellers of the model
• The flagship smartphones will be available with all Apple resellers
• Some e-commerce websites are likely to get into selling pacts

If one extrapolates the pricing strategy for Apple’s previous models in the Indian market, the iPhone 6, which will sport a 4.7 inch screen, will be priced at Rs 53,500 for 16 GB memory; Rs 62,500 for 64 GB and Rs 71,500 for 128 GB. While the larger sibling iPhone 6 Plus, which will have a 5.5 inch screen, will start at Rs 62,500 for a 16 GB model, Rs 71,500 for 64 GB and Rs 80,500 for the 128 GB top-end model.

Indian customers will have to pay a Rs 9,000 premium for the larger model and also the same amount for higher memory. However, what is important to note is that unlike the previous occasions, when Apple sold phones in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB versions, this time the company is offering iPhones with 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB.

While Apple resellers have no clue about price, grey-market sellers in New Delhi are expecting official prices to be in the range of Rs 60,000 (16 GB, 4.7 inches) to Rs 85,000 (128 GB, 5.5 inches) plus a 15-20 per cent premium.

Apple has smartly kept the entry-level phone at 16 GB and not 32 GB, so that customers are tempted to go for the next iteration, which is 64 GB. Apple is said to enjoy great margins on iPhones, which contribute nearly half its revenues.

Coming to the most important question, whether you should go for the new iPhone models? There is no simple answer to that. In terms of hardware specifications, there are a lot of Android devices in the market already, some priced much lower, that offer similar or better specs. However, in terms of convenience and prestige, iPhone triumphs over most of its rivals. Apple is looking to accentuate that with its new operating system iOS 8, which will be available for existing devices from September 17.

It remains to be seen whether Apple Pay, Apple's foray into payment technology, will be available in India. Although it looks unlikely given that overseas payment companies have not had it easy with Indian regulatory authorities. Unavailability of this feature in India, however, would hardly dent sales here.