After weeks of speculation, Apple India on Friday announced the price of the iPhone 5C 8GB version at Rs 37,500 to compete in the smartphone turf dominated by Samsung.

The sub-Rs 40,000 phone category enables Apple to compete with Samsung S5 and a host of high end smartphones. The Apple launch is happening at a time when Samsung is struggling to sell its Galaxy S5 smartphone in India and some of the other emerging mobile markets.

Samsung earlier denied that the company is selling Galaxy S5 in low volumes. But speculations are rife that the resignation of Samsung India mobile head Vineet Taneja is connected to its lower than expected sales across the country.

The American device vendor said iPhone 5c 8GB version will be available in the market over the next few days. Earlier, Apple said its business in India grew around 100 percent in its latest quarter against an industry average of around 50 percent.

The iPhone 5C, along with Apple’s flagship iPhone 5S, was launched globally last October. The 8GB variant of the device was launched in the UK and France under partnerships with telecom operators O2 and SFR.

Industry analysts suggest that steep pricing of its devices in India has been one of the reasons that Apple is still to figure among the top 3 players in the smartphone market, even though globally it ranks second to Samsung in terms of shipment.

The iPhone 5S is selling the 16GB version for over Rs 46,000, while 32GB is retailing for over Rs 62,000.

Apple iPhone 5c 32GB version is available for Rs 53,000.

Previously, Apple had also introduced the 8GB variants of iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in India.

Smartphone sales in India grew almost three-fold to over 44 million in 2013 from 16.2 million units in 2012, buoyed by a strong uptake of affordable devices made by local firms such as Micromax and Karbonn, said IDC.

Apple does not have any place in the top 5 smartphone market share list in India. While Samsung is the leader with 38 percent share, Micromax had 16 percent, Karbonn 10 percent, Sony 5 percent and Lava 4.7 percent in Q4 2013.

TelecomLead News Team