iPhone 5s sold out in India, shortages everywhere!

The iPhone 5s and 5c opened for sale in India on Friday 1 November ahead of the Diwali weekend to a demand that rapidly outstripped supply and on Tuesday.

According to The Times of India, Apple’s iPhone 5s sold out within 24 hours of launching in India, which is now the world’s third largest smartphone market by volume. Initial supply is unknown — possibly as low as 30,000 units across the country, according to “trade estimates” — but India now marks yet another market where consumers will have to wait for weeks to buy Apple’s latest phone. 

On Tuesday, Economic Times reported that “top multi-brand cellphone and electronic retail chains such as The MobileStore, PlanetM, UniverCell and Future Group say their 5S stocks are over but that they still have 5C phones.” The report adds that trade estimates put the number of iPhones launched in India was close to 30,000 of which around 6000 were iPhone 5s devices. Reliance which is offering the phone for a year contract sold out the devices in one and a half days.

But when it comes to the iPhone, it’s not just the big guys who are facing a supply shortage and a demand overload. Local mobile stores in Delhi too have very limited supply of the iPhone 5s, which seems to be in high demand.

As far as offers on the iPhone 5s are concerned, Reliance Communications is offering the smartphone for a sweet Rs 2,999 per month for a contract period pf  24 months. The offer will include the handset cost, unlimited local and STD calls, SMS, national roaming and 3G data. Under this offer, Apple iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s customers will not receive any usage bill for 24 months, as the monthly payments include all usage charges. Only international calls and international roaming charges will have to be paid for. The iPhone 5c is also available on the same offer but for a monthly payment of Rs 2599 with the same data and voice deal. Customers however will require a credit card for buying the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c under the offer. They will need credit cards from ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered, HDFC Bank and Citi Bank. The amount will be billed to their credit card.

Reliance's iPhone 5S and 5C plans with zero down-payment

credit : Phonearena

Reliance Communications will offer the 16GB iPhone 5s at a monthly fee of Rs. 2,999 and 16GB iPhone 5c at a fee of Rs. 2,599 at zero upfront cost. The monthly fee is inclusive of taxes. In lieu of the fee, consumers will get unlimited local and STD calls, SMS (up to 3,000 a month due to TRAI regulations), national roaming and 3G data. There's no fair use policy and iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s customers will not receive any usage bill for 24 months, except for usage related to international calls and international roaming charges.

The 32GB and 64GB variants of the iPhone 5s and the 32GB variant of the iPhone 5c would also be offered under the same scheme though consumers will have to shell out upfront charges. The 32GB iPhone 5s will come with upfront charges of Rs. 11,600 while the 32GB and 64GB variants of the iPhone 5s will be available following a downpayment of Rs. 10,992 and Rs. 19,992, respectively.

Commenting on the offer, Gurdeep Singh, President & CEO (Wireless), Reliance Communications Limited, said: "We are delighted to be amongst the first to launch the Apple iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s in India and are focused on growing this user segment with our novel iPhone offers, which break all ownership rules and put the customer first. The Apple iPhone has been a dream for users in India and overseas, and it is our endeavour to grow this market and make every Indian's dream come true with RCom's compelling and affordable iPhone ownership plan."

RCom has partnered with select credit card providers to extend the offer with a single swipe of a credit card enabling users to opt in for the contract for 2 years. RCom will reportedly offer the subsidy scheme to credit card users and has tied up with banks, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank for the same to ensure that consumers don't dishonour the contract. The Company has also launched special facilities for corporate users of Apple products who would like to migrate to the Reliance network through MNP, with their requests being fast-processed. It's also setting up a special dedicated helpline for Apple customers for assistance and inquiries.

It's worth pointing out that the 16GB iPhone 5s costs Rs. 53,500, while the 16GB iPhone 5c is priced at Rs. 41,900. If you buy the iPhone 5s under the offer, you'll end up paying Rs.71,976 at the end of 24 months, Rs.18,476 over and above the cost of the phone but the monthly rental effectively turns out to be Rs.769.83, so the deal seems quite fair.