Apple's iPhone 5c and 4S exchange scheme offers big discounts for your old smartphone

As reported earlier, Apple has launched a buyback offer for the latest iPhone 5c and the iPhone 4S in India. The front page of leading news daily carried a full page advertisement today, encouraging people to exchange their iPhone 4 for an iPhone 5c/4S. The company is offering minimum Rs 13,000 cashback for the iPhone 4, and one can enjoy an even greated discount if their phone is in great condition.

We spoke to a few authorised Apple retailers, who confirmed that the buyback offer is applicable only for 8GB iPhone 4s and 16/32GB iPhone 5c models. This means, the iPhone 4S – which sells for Rs 31,500 – can be bought for Rs 18,500 or even lower. Similarly, one can expect the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 5c for at least Rs 28,900 and Rs 40,500 respectively. Currently, the 16GB iPhone 5c model sells for Rs 41,900 and the 32GB for Rs 53,500, putting them well in the expensive category.

Minimum Rs 13,000 cashback offer

An Andheri-based retailer tells us that the offer is also valid on other high-end smartphones too, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and more. A previous report had listed a slew of phones that are entitled for this buyback including Samsung Galaxy Mega (5.8 and 6.3 inch both), S4 Mini, Galaxy Note 3, Sony's  Xperia C, Xperia ZR, Xperia Z, Xperia Z1, Xperia Ultra, BlackBerry Z10, Q10, HTC One mini, One Dual SIM, and more.

In the past one year, Apple has been indulging into some aggressive marketing in India. Earlier this year, it had come up with the “iPhone 5 for smartphone” exchange deal. However, it should be noted that the new exchange cashback deal is valid only for the iPhone 5c and 4s, and not the 5s. Research firm Gartner has earlier said that Apple's 5c is 'too highly priced' for emerging markets like India, helping iPhone 4S be the volume driver. Though the 5c was crafted for emerging markets like India, the iPhone 5s seems to have attracted the Indian audiences better instead.