iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR sales might be affected in India: Here's the reason

Apple might have trouble selling the newly launched iPhones – iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max and iPhone XR in India.

In conversation with Bloomberg, a member of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, Rathin Roy said, “We need to actively send signals to disincentive or discourage increase in consumption of what I describe as explicit luxuries. Imports of mobile phones such as iPhones or spending on services such as higher education overseas has gone up.” He believes that India should ban import in order to control the Current Account Deficit (CAD) and support the rupee.

As of October 1, the rupee tumbled 26 paise to end at a near two-week low of 72.91 against the US dollar amid a strengthening greenback and steady capital outflows. Roy stated that it would be a better option to simply not allow luxury items in the country, rather than raising interest rates on products.

This week, the government hiked customs duty on as many as 19 non-essential items including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, footwear, diamonds, jewellery and jet fuel.

The items on which import duties have been raised also include compressors, speakers, non-industrial diamonds, semi-processed, half cut and broken diamonds, lab-grown diamonds, cut and polished, coloured gemstones; bath, shower, sink of plastic. As per DGFT data, the total value of exports in the first quarter of this fiscal was $82,471.77 million ($72,212.33 million), up 14.21%.

This news comes at a time when Apple is already seen struggling to sell the new devices in the country. A report by Economic Times explained that the iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max saw lower sales in the Indian market with several large retailers across the country saying they are for the first time left with little less than half the stock supplied to them after the first weekend sales.

In India, the iPhone XS is priced at Rs 99,900 for the 64GB variant, Rs 1,14,900 for the 256GB variant and Rs 1,34,900 for the 512GB variant. The iPhone XS Max is priced at Rs 1,09,900 for the 64GB variant, Rs 1,24,900 for the 256GB variant and Rs 1,44,900 for the 512GB variant. Lastly, the iPhone XR is priced at Rs 76,900 for the 64GB variant, Rs 81,900 for the 256GB variant and Rs 91,900 for the 512GB variant.

The new iPhones look similar to their predecessor. However, there are two massive differences. Both the new iPhones will be available in colour gold. It should be noted that iPhone Xs Max is not just the biggest iPhone ever, it's one of the biggest smartphone available in the market. According to the Tim Cook, the new devices are “by far the most advanced iPhone Apple has ever created.”

The iPhone XS, has 5.8-inch screen size, similar to iPhone X. Apple's XS Max is even bigger than Samsung's Galaxy Note 9, which is 6.4 inches. Apple iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are powered by the A12 Bionic chip with a 7 nm design, which allows for more than 6 billion transistors on the processor. This is a six-core processor. It comes with a more powerful GPU and CPU. A12 Bionic helps apps launch 30 per cent faster.

Apple also introduced iPhone XR. The iPhone XR has a single-lens glass-backed design and is available in a bunch of colors including red, blue, copper and yellow. The iPhone XR is the new budget iPhone, customers can possess. The phone is iP67 water resistant. It has LCD edge to edge and not OLED like the other phones. It's a bigger display than the 8 Plus but physically smaller than an 8 Plus. iPhone XR has a new name for the display: Liquid Retina display.

iPhone XR will not have 3D touch but it does get 120Hz touch responsiveness, True-Tone and tap-to-wake on an LCD. The device will have rear camera with a 12MP wide angle, same as in the Xs and Xs Max. But it will have single lens only. Also, iPhone XR gets the new True Tone flash. The iPhone XR also gets portrait mode and depth control, just like the iPhone Xs.