Want to crack the Indian smartphone market? Sell a phone for Rs 8,000

At a time when sales of smartphones globally have been falling, India continues to be a beacon of hope for mobile phone manufacturers. Smartphone sales in India are growing at a robust 29.5% year on year and is estimated to account for 139 million sales in 2016, according to a Gartner report.

Smartphones under $120 (approximately Rs 8,000) will continue to contribute 50% of overall smartphone sales in 2016, said the report. This shows a majority of the population going in for cheaper smartphones.

This is expect to grow going forward as feature phones continue to dominate mobile sales in India. Around 61% of the total mobile sales in India are of feature phones, said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. With feature phones being phased out gradually, smartphone sales in the below Rs 8,000 segment are expected to grow higher.

With sales slowing elsewhere in the world, all smartphone companies have turned their attention to India. This is including Apple, which has turned its attention towards India in the face of declining iPhone sales globally.

This report just confirms that Apple strategy to capture a larger share of the Indian smartphone market might not work with the current price of iPhones placed above Rs 35,000.

The cheapest Apple iPhone available in the Indian market till some time ago was the generations old iPhone 4S, at Rs 12,000—50% higher than the magical price point of Rs 8,000.

A reason why Apple has been targeting the refurbished phone market in India as it could offer used iPhones at much cheaper rates to the price sensitive market.

Recently, even CEO Tim Cook had visited India in a hope to get a go ahead from the Indian government. However, in his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was gently had the request turned down, as he told Cook to Make in India instead.

Although Apple targets the premium market with its phones, its majority of iPhone sales in India happen through the old models that fall below Rs 20,000 price point.

Will Apple bring the price of these phones down further?