Apple's new business strategy kills iPhone black market in India

Every year, it is usual for the black market traders across India this time to receive bookings of the latest iPhone with a massive premium. This happened because of a major delay in the launch of the new iPhone model in India, which die-hard Apple fans with deep pockets couldn’t digest. Now though, things have changed.

This year, Apple has reduced the launch delay in India to a bare minimum. The ultra-premium iPhone X will launch on the same day as the global launch of the smartphone whereas the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will be launched within a week. While this has worked positively for the fans, it has brought huge losses to the black market iPhone dealers in India.

A report from Economic Times states that black market traders are seeing the very low demand for the latest iPhones because of the revamped launch dates in India. One grey market seller in Kolkata’s Fancy Market said that they have got only two bookings for the iPhone 8 Plus, which also happened because they promised a September 24 delivery date. “This is in sharp contrast to earlier years when we would easily have 30-35 bookings,” the person told ET.

Even the premium for these handsets in black market has dropped. The difference is only a few thousand Rupees more than the actual price, which initially stretched to more than a lakh for the top-end iPhone model.  

Maybe this was a sly move by Apple to limit the flow of illegal devices in the country. With a smaller delay in launch dates, it will be relatively easy for Apple to accumulate most of the profits for themselves instead of letting most of it go unfairly to third-parties.