Apple has just released the India prices of the newly-launched iPhone SE 2020 today. This is Apple’s most affordable iPhone in four years and it starts at Rs 42,500. And while it was already expected, it now looks even clear that other Android smartphones in the same price segment, and potentially the upcoming OnePlus 8, have a very strong competition to face.
It’s no secret that Apple has been struggling to get a hold of the premium Indian smartphone space in the last couple of years. That has mostly been the case because the Cupertino giant didn’t have any offering in the affordable flagship category around INR 45,000 in a price-sensitive country like India.
That changed with the iPhone XR last year as it was offered at a record low price of INR 35,999 during the Flipkart Diwali sale. Currently, the iPhone XR is much more expensive costing INR 48,900 for the base model. And the iPhone SE 2020 could be just the perfect vaccine to Apple’s sales problems.
This coupled with the fact that Android flagships like the Realme X50 5G, the iQOO 3, and especially the OnePlus 8 5G, have slowly been getting more and more expensive. The introduction of 5G has also helped tip the scales in favour of Apple’s new offering this year.
Coming to the case of OnePlus, which is the top premium smartphone brand in India, strong suggestions are that the OnePlus 8 could be priced at Rs 44,999. However, with the iPhone SE 2020, Apple now has a formidable offering in the sub- INR 45,000 bracket, something that it didn’t have for around four years.
As a counterpoint, it is also true that OnePlus brings quite a diverse feature set to the table with the OnePlus 8 such as a bigger curved display, an ultra-wide camera, and fast charging, among others which could help it retain a part of its user-base. There’s also the threat of COVID-19 bringing down consumer spending drastically, however, this would affect not only Apple but the overall smartphone industry in India and across the globe.
