Half an Apple: Will an affordable iPhone X work for India?
When Cupertino-based tech giant Apple announced the "futuristic" iPhone X in September last year, it caused quite a stir. Despite being launched alongside two really well-rounded smartphones – iPhone 8 and 8 Plus – it managed to emerge as the major talking point from the event.
Understandably so.
The iPhone X, after all, isn't just any other iPhone. It's the device that was announced to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the launch of the first iPhone. And more importantly, as Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, explained, it is the device of the future, one that is expected to chart the path for smartphones in the coming years.
And unsurprisingly, with forward-looking technologies such as the Face ID – that uses a front camera module housing a main camera, an infrared sensor and another camera sensor capable of throwing 30,000 invisible dots at the user's face for facial recognition purposes – AR focused tools and even the dreaded notch, the iPhone X has already started to mould smartphones world over in its own image.
But despite achieving much of what it set out to in such a short span of time, the iPhone X still hasn't managed to make deep inroads into markets like India and even China where Apple has been posting low growth figures for a while now.
A major reason is the high cost of the iPhones X – starting at Rs 95,390 for the 64GB variant, going all the way up to 1,08,930 for the 256GB option – that currently serves as a barrier for millions of smartphone users.
But that could soon change.
As per a report published in Forbes, Apple is all set to unveil a mid-range smartphone that will borrow design elements from the iPhone X. The report sources the news on images of a case that appears likely to house an upcoming budget iPhone X later this year.
The renders of the case released by Ghostek clearly point to a design that incorporates the iPhone X notch but also highlights a few other design and hardware changes – such as a single lens camera setup at the back – that may not go down well with buyers.
The report further goes to hint that Apple is likely to make more concessions in terms of the hardware to bring the price of the device down. As per the report, the first to take a hit would be the display, which will be LCD, not OLED, and will lack 3D Touch.
Not the first leak
Interestingly, this is not the first time that we are hearing of the possibility of an affordable FaceID supporting iPhone for 2018.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities had earlier talked about the possibility of Apple releasing an updated version of the iPhone X with a 5.8-inch OLED screen, a larger 6.5-inch OLED model (call it an iPhone X Plus), and a new mid-range model that will feature a 6.1-inch display and borrow elements of both the iPhone X and the cheaper iPhone 8 models.
As per the research note published by Kuo, the 6.1-inch iPhone should feature an aluminum frame similar to the iPhone 8 (instead of stainless steel) and the use of an LCD panel instead of OLED to bring the cost of the phone down to $700 (approximately Rs 45,000), making the device more appealing to many customers who chose to skip the current generation iPhone lineup because of its steep price or lack of new features.
Will it be good enough?
Though it may be too early to speculate, if such reports do end up coming true, it would be big news for the smartphone industry.
There is no denying that the cutbacks in creating the new budget iPhone will not go down well with Apple fanboys who have gotten used to top-end features with their phones. The lack of a dual camera setup, the inclusion of an LCD display and possibly downgraded performance because of a slower SoC will most definitely make this a phone to pass up on.
Yet, in a market like ours, where the price tag defines a smartphone's success more than anything else, the failings of this budget iPhone should most likely get overshadowed by its price tag and, in the process, also make this smartphone the key that finally unlocks the Indian market for Apple.