Apple has scrapped plans to sell refurbished iPhones in India after the government rejected its application to import such phones due to concerns about generating e-waste, two people aware of the development said.
“The renewed story is over. It’s no longer part of India’s road map,” said a senior executive aware of the iPhone maker’s plans, one of the two people mentioned above, on condition of anonymity. He said the Cupertino-based company was pursuing local manufacturing in India to make its phones more affordable.
Apple had been in talks with the government for the past few years to allow it to import and sell second-hand iPhones, which it called ‘pre-owned and certified’, at a time when it was looking to expand its market share in price. was struggling to do. Sensitive Indian smartphone market.
However, it failed to get approval as the government regulations did not have provisions for import of used equipment. Allowing Apple would mean opening the doors to possible dumping of used phones in India by other companies, leading to massive e-waste.
“The plan has been abandoned. There is no intention of taking it forward here,” said a second person, who did not wish to be named.
Queries to an Apple India spokesperson did not elicit any response till Friday evening.
“Apple aimed to expand its market share with refurbished phones because once a smartphone user starts using a pre-owned iPhone, it greatly increases the chances of a user upgrading to another iPhone, regardless of whether Be it refurbished or new. It was a strategy that could help lock users into their ecosystem,” said Navkendra Singh, associate vice president of devices research at IDC India, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
He said that while Apple would have received additional revenue from services on top of device sales in refurbished phones, it would have been in direct conflict with the government’s Make in India plans.
Apple currently makes 60% of its 4.8 million iPhones that are sold in India through large global contract makers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, which are ramping up capacity. According to research firm TechArc, in 2022, around 7 million iPhones are expected to be sold in India. ,
Experts note that the tech giant was building alternative production lines for China, where it has vast operations, catering to global markets.
Apple may have a small share of the overall smartphone market, but it was the second largest seller in the world The 30,000 and above segment, as of June 30, lags far behind Samsung. it headed up According to Counterpoint Research data, the 45,000 price segment is considered ultra-premium as of the end of June.
According to a report by IDC, new iPhones with high average selling prices of $700 or more are largely out of reach for the consumer segment, and their disproportionately high share of the second-hand market, due to the aspirational price tag attached. Is. “Apple has been one of the top two brands in terms of volume on Cashify’s platform, and its share of the refurbished market has only grown in the last two-three years. By value, iPhones are the best sellers on our platform,” said Nakul Kumar, co-founder, Cashify, India’s largest refurbished phone seller.
Apple’s iPhone 7 was the primary model for Apple buybacks, accounting for 23% in 2021, even as 16% of all phones repurchased by Cashify were iPhones.
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