Amazon and Reliance Digital Stores will sell iPhones by offering the customers a 70% buyback after a year of use.

 

Reliance has a special buyback offer for its Jio customers. The customers of Jio telecom units who purchase the latest Apple iPhone from their partner stores can sell the same back in a year at a guaranteed price. This move could help the U.S. tech firm expand its business in India. This offer has come during the Indian festive season when consumer spending is on a rise and assures the customers of purchasing the new iPhone models at a guaranteed return of 70% of the cost after a year. This could lift the Apple sales in India and could draw high paying customers on the Jio network as well. This deal is a win-win for both the companies.

Apple is keen on selling more iPhones in India, which is one of the biggest smartphone markets for the company but the high cost of the iPhone has kept them out of the reach of millions of Indians. This deal between Reliance and Apple is the latest attempt to grow India’s smartphone market in a similar way to boost sales in countries like United States. Apple has partnered with various network operators in the past in order to cut down the cost of the phone.

At Rs.64,000 the cost of iPhone 8 is still high, however, some consumers are skeptical about the buyback offer giving a boost to Apple’s market share in India, where users can already resell old iPhone for 50% to 60% of the cost in the second hand market. People want phones but not necessarily the latest and most expensive ones, which could lead to older iPhones taking a bulk of Apple’s sales in the country. It is crucial for Apple to grow sales in India as the growth has slowed down in China and the United States. This deal will place Apple’s iPhones in Reliance and Jio Stores across 900 cities in India giving a chance to boost the meager 3% market share and close the gap with Samsung.

This is the first time that Reliance is offering a huge buyback price to win over the high spending Apple fans in the country. Reliance hopes it will boost revenues and increase the number of Jio users. The offer will be available to Jio consumers who buy the phone and subscribe to its Rs.799 monthly package for one year. Those consumers who leave the contract midway could lose out on the buyback offer. With the Apple deal, Jio is also looking to woo consumers who are cost conscious with a USD 23 4G phone that will blur the line between a traditional feature phone and a smartphone. The company is now eyeing between 250-300 million customers in the next two years. It has already signed on 128 million users in less than a year through its cut price deals.