The 'iPhone 5 for smartphone' exchange offer is a dud

The front page of a leading news daily carried a full page advertisement today, encouraging people to exchange their smartphone for an iPhone. An offer too good to be true, it obviously raised many questions. We did some snooping around to find out more details.

If you read the advertisement carefully, then what they have said is you can exchange your smartphone with any of the retailers mentioned therein and buy iPhone 5 (16GB, 32GB, 64GB), iPhone 4S (16GB) and iPhone 4 (8GB) by paying the difference in the amount. The advertisement has listed retailers across Mumbai and Thane.

Would you let go your Note II for approx.Rs. 25,000?

Buying a new device by exchanging your older one and paying the difference in sum isn't something new. You get this option with most of the retailers in the market. So, we decided to find out how lucrative this offer really is and called a few of these retailers. We asked what exchange price would Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy SII, Galaxy Note 2, iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note would fetch us, as accordingly, we will have to shell out the difference to lay our hands on the iPhone 5. A few retailers like SonyMony, Andheri, and Circuit City, Bandra, refused to divulge the exchange price without seeing the device we had to offer, while many others gave us the approximate cost after ascertaining the presence of accessories, packaging box, bill and warranty. One of the listed retailers, Masjid Bunder based Telecom Center sounded quite harrowed and said that they do not have any exchange offer and that their information was wrongly published.

While SonyMony, Andheri, refused to reveal a tentative price and said they would first need to see the device, the SonyMony Prabhadevi outlet was more forthcoming with information. They offered us a paltry sum of Rs. 5,000 for a six month old Samsung Galaxy S II. When we asked for the price of iPhone 5, we were informed that 16GB would cost us Rs. 45,500. So if you were to buy an iPhone 5 from SonyMony, then you would have to shell out approximately Rs. 40,000 after exchanging it with the Samsung Galaxy S II. Needless to say, this certainly isn’t a good deal. On the other hand, Connexions and More, Charni Road, offered us Rs. 11,200 for the same device; additionally; they mentioned that there could be a difference of Rs. 500-700 depending upon the condition. City Chain, Heera Panna, offered us the same price of Rs. 12,000, again subject to the condition of the device.

Lower Parel based Variety shoppe offered us a Rs. 20,000-22,000 for Samsung Galaxy S III, which we told him was six month old, in good condition and with all the bundled accessories intact. This we felt was a good price, as they were selling the 16GB iPhone 5 for far lower price at Rs. 44,000. Prince, Marine Lines, offered us Rs. 25,000 for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and we were told that it could fetch more, depending on the condition of the device. Even they offered the 16GB iPhone 5 for Rs. 44,000.

Arihant Infocom offered minimum Rs. 8000 for the Galaxy Nexus (with box and accessories) and said that the price may vary depending on the condition of the device. City Chain, Heera Panna, upped the priced and said the Galaxy Nexus could fetch us Rs. 10,000. Interestingly, the retailer said we could even combine two phones and buy the iPhone 5 after paying the difference in the amount.

The Galaxy Nexus bundled with accessories will fetch you approx. 8k to 10k

We contacted Galleria, Ghatkopar, to find the payable amount on exchanging an iPhone 4S to buy its newest sibling. They offered us Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 15,000 for an unlocked iPhone 4S with accessories. This authorised dealer tells us had the device been purchased from grey market, it could lead to a difference of about Rs. 5000 less.

As you see, the price difference that you need to pay to own the iPhone depends upon the device that you have to exchange and its working condition. So, basically, this offer is nothing different than what you would get in the market otherwise. We asked one local retailer at Heera Panna who isn't listed in the advertisement. He offered us Rs. 14,000 for the Galaxy Nexus and is selling the iPhone 5 for a lower price at Rs. 43,800.