You can soon buy refurbished iPhones in India

Though you might be a fan of Apple and its products, you might not buy one as it is usually expensive. Especially, the iPhones are becoming even more expensive with the recent one, the iPhone X priced over Rs. 100,000. Now, it looks like things will change as the iPhone SE is being manufactured locally in India and there will be an alternative way for the buyers to grab hold of the affordable iPhone in the near future.

Well, we are talking about the ability to purchase refurbished iPhones in India. As of now, the smartphone distributors are being led by HCL and Ingram Micro. These companies are all set to enter another realm of the business and that is none other than selling refurbished devices in the country. This process will include refurbishing the old smartphones, sourcing the models locally and selling them.

By selling locally sourced refurbished smartphones, these companies will be able to bypass the government restriction of sourcing the old models from other countries. This is going to happen on a large scale so that buyers can get their hands on premium models at cheap price points. Also, the other leading distributors including Phonup and Redington have forayed into the Indian market in order to set up dedicated stores to sell refurbished models under a joint venture with Franchise India, claims a report by The Economic Times.

The report adds that the market for the refurbished smartphones in the country is around $3 billion and that it is largely dominated by the unorganized sector. It further states that Apple is keen on selling company-certified refurbished iPhones by importing old models and refurbishing them locally. The process has been turned down by the Indian government due to e-waste concerns. But the proposal seems to be in limbo and it might happen via the third-party distributors who can make use of buyback schemes.

What are refurbished smartphones?

If you aren't aware, refurbished smartphones are used models those have been checked by the skilled personnel at the company for any defects, problems and other issues. If any such issue is found, the problematic component will be replaced with a new one. After replacement of the component, the device will be repackaged and sent back to the country where it was originally sold. Then, it will bear a refurbished tag on it.