As the Apple iPhone 5 is being launched in the US on Wednesday, Indian customers are waiting to buy the existing iPhone 4 and 4S, expecting their prices to come down. In the past, Apple reduced the price of iPad after launching iPad2.
Some of them are first-time buyers and, therefore, looking for a ‘tried and tested’ model, before going in for iPhone 5 directly.
“I expect the prices of the iPhone 4S to come down post launch of the latest iPhone 5. I will not buy the latest series, but buy the 4S if its price comes down in the near future,” Rohit Khullar, a banker in South Delhi, said.
Apple is also upgrading the software on its older phones with a new operating system for different mapping service and collaborating with Facebook.
The company said its iOS 6 software will sport more than 200 new features and will be a free upgrade for iPhones released since 2009, and also in iPads launched since last year. It will also work with newer iPod Touch devices. However, some features will not be available on all devices.
But a Delhi-based iWorld store owner said that, as of now, there was no indication from Apple it would reduce prices of the existing phones.
The iPhone5 being launched in the US market may hit Indian shores only a few months later.
C. K. Lu, Senior Research Analyst at Gartner, said that consumers may wait and see what the next iPhone looks like and what other Windows phone vendors can offer before making purchase decisions.