Apple offers discounts worth Rs 34,000 to boost sales

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: There is more good news for smartphone buyers! Apple is offering discount on its latest iPhones in less than a month of its launch.

According to a report in The Economic Times, the Company is offering a buyback offer on iPhone 6s and 6sPlus and giving consumers discount of up to Rs 34,000 to boost sales.

The report said that Apple and its distributors are going to buy back old models under the scheme to ensure that all transactions are genuine and reduce the burden of the retailer who can push sales further.

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were launched last month in India at Rs 62,000-Rs 92,000 depending on memory and model, but sales were down 15-20% over last year as iPhone 6 and 6Plus which hit the market last year were cheaper by Rs 8,500-9,000.

The report adds that Ingram Micro, one of the Apple's four iPhone distributors, has just rolled out the buyback scheme in a handful of Apple stores and multi-brand cellphone retail chains in South India which will be subsequently taken national.

The other three distributors will also follow suit since the US company wants to achieve its target of trebling sales during the October-December quarter over last year.

The report said that the company has informed trade that it will also buy back select hi-end handsets of rival Samsung. Apple has also created a separate website where retailers have to upload details of old handsets against which new models will be bought.

The buyback offer comes at a time when the latest iPhones are getting sold at 7-11% discount since last week in ecommerce marketplaces such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon.