Apple launches 8GB iPhone 5c at Rs.33,500

Apple has launched a new 8GB variant of its iPhone 5c smartphone, which will further push the company’s efforts to reduce the price and enter into the developing markets. Unfortunately, this “memory tight” device sees a launch in India, not in U.S. or other global markets yet.

The MRP of the device is Rs.37, 500 but with some discounts it will cost Rs.33,500. The 8GB iPhone 5c's price seems to be expensive as there is a buyback offer on the iPhone 5c 16GB variant, which has brought down its price to Rs.34,000 from Rs.41,500.

Apple had first introduced the 8GB variant of iPhone 5C in UK and France under tie-ups with operators O2 and SFR. The phone was launched at 429 pounds in the UK, in March.

Apple introduced iPhone 5C with its flagship phone, iPhone 5S, last October. Apple iPhone 5C features the same 4-inch Retina display seen in iPhone 5 and almost identical internals including Apple's A6 chipset, an 8MP rear camera with flash and a 1.2MP front-facing camera. On the outside, however, it sports a polycarbonate shell with five colour options and a glossy finish.

Previously, Apple had also introduced the 8GB variants of iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in India.

Smartphone sales in India grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013 from 16.2 million units in 2012, buoyed by a strong uptake of affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn, according to research firm IDC.

While Samsung was the leader with 38 per cent share, Micromax had 16 per cent share, Karbonn (10 per cent), Sony (5 per cent) and Lava (4.7 per cent) in Q4 2013.

“India was one of the fastest-growing countries worldwide in terms of smartphone adoption in 2013. This surge has been mainly powered by homegrown vendors, which have shown a tremendous and consistent growth over the past four quarters of 2013,” IDC had said.