Gonna be a tough sell in India to begin with due to higher costs and higher pricing in general for Apple products in India, but with the lowered costs of all competitor devices added to the equation as well....... who knows.
While not really selling versus a "true competitor" in terms of high/low quality smartphones ($1,000 phone versus a cheap sub $100 phone possibly), and consumers are definitely NOT getting similar quality, reliability, features, benefits, etc., to many people in different parts of the world these things are not needed; only requirements being a "simple mobile communicator, able to make phone calls, and find something online/play music occasionally when need be" for a reasonable amount of time, in a small enough form factor that is able to be taken with them everywhere...... in other words, what used to pass as Apple.
Don't get me wrong, "I love me some Apple." I just don't know how well Apple is going to fair in India in this current financial climate.
Best of luck, however, Apple; if anyone can pull this off successfully it is YOU!
USVet
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So Indians now get no benefit from the price wars. Hopefully Amazon retailers will still provide more discount.
Where are the Australians and Europeans complaining about prices in their countries. Look at what we have to pay for iPhones.
Well to be fair mate, no one is "making you buy" an iPhone so you do not "have to pay" Apple anything; the reality is that the decision to buy Apple kit is YOUR decision alone. As such, the price should be included in that decision before you buy. If you have an issue with price then there are many, many alternatives to purchase that are not priced as highly as Apple.
I don't want to be that guy, but just saying. And prices are HIGH everywhere friend. I got myself and the wife new 7's and each was over a grand ($1,100+ and $1,000+) and that is in the US. Price is relative and correlated with a lot of variables and factors, but at the end of the day, Apple kit is accepted as being priced HIGHER than most competing products in the same product segment in almost EVERY country in the world. Personally I think the prices they charge are ridiculously high and even more so in countries like you mentioned where prices are higher. That being said, I also know well in advance how much it will cost me personally to buy and own Apple kit when it comes out so there are no surprises to me regarding the costs. In addition, priced high or not, I happily make Apple product purchases all the time based on my own perception of the perceived value I receive relative to the true product cost that is acceptable in my mind with regard to the product I am receiving in exchange for my financial outlay. I have no problems buying my Apple products, and certainly will not do so then later complain later about how much it cost me to get the items I wanted to buy knowing that when I chose that specific Apple product I did so instead of purchasing many, other less-priced products.
Several countries "may have to pay more" for Apple kit, due to "national monetary matters, local currency valuation, inflation/deflation of the dollar, etc." sure, but NONE of that is Apples doing or fault. THAT is the fault of your own government and every other country with varying financial, economic, and market conditions, NOT Apple executives just randomly sitting around saying, "hey you know what, I know how we can make more money; for the iPhone 7 launch, lets just charge customers in Australia double what we charge everyone else in the world this time around, like we did in England with the 6S launch and see how that increases our profit this quarter" lol.
[Off morning rant now]
Time will tell if this helps/hurts India/Apple. Obviously it seems if the savings are removed, it will not be good for India or Apple; many consumers will not be able to locally afford, or be unwilling to spend such a large amount financially, for a portable consumer electronic mobile phone. This will limit Apples "brand power to the masses" appeal while keeping the iPhone limited to the "Jone's" neighborhood, as well as decrease their ability to grow in the local region. So I think it's a bad overall situation for both India/Apple that the price reduction has been removed. It will be interesting to see why it has been removed, at whose doing, and if any plans exist for a quasi reduction in cost again the future.
USVet