Apple India Draws Flak For ‘Discriminatory’ Cashback Offers On iPhone 15 Models

Apple Begins Training Workers To Produce iPhone Pro Models In India

SUMMARY

According to the phone retailers’ body, the Cupertino-based company, to grab the market, has started adopting anti-competitive practices with its iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max cashback offers

According to the industry body representing over 1,50,000 smartphone retailers, such offers are creating favourable conditions in the market only for the big players over the smaller ones

On such ‘discriminatory’ grounds, Navneet Pathak, national joint secretary at AMIRA has also written a letter to the smartphone giant

As Apple’s iPhone 15 series continues to be one of the best-selling premium smartphones, Apple India is now facing criticism from the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) over its “discriminatory” cashback offers between larger and small retail stores.

AIMRA, which reportedly represents over 1,50,000 mobile phone retailers in India, has accused Apple of engaging in anti-competitive practices with its iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max cashback offers.

The association alleged that Apple has allowed its own stores and large retailers to offer cashback upto INR 10,000 on its 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models, while smaller retail channels are only allowed to offer INR 3,000 cashback on the same models, as per a Financial Express report.

According to the industry body, such offers are creating favourable conditions in the market only for the bigger players over the smaller ones.

On such ‘discriminatory’ grounds, Navneet Pathak, national joint secretary at AMIRA has also written a letter to the smartphone giant.

Inc42 has reached out to Apple seeking comments on the matter. The story will be updated based on the response.

According to media reports, the letter was addressed to Apple India’s managing director Ashish Chowdhary. The letter said that it poses a significant risk of loss in sales for retail channels. It also raised concerns about unfair retail practices and that such activities will result in lack of trust of customers in the small sellers.

“This is purely an anti-competitive move favouring few…This discrepancy not only poses a significant risk of loss in sales for the retail channels but also raises concerns of unfair competition. Such actions undermine the trust and confidence we have diligently built with our customers over time,” the letter read.

To cope with such complexities, AIMRA has also asked the iPhone maker to resolve the cashback offer quickly and ensure fair competition by treating all retailers equally.

Apple launched the iPhone 15 series last year at a starting price of INR 79,900 in India. The series offers four variants — iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max.

Interestingly, last year, quick commerce platform Blinkit and telecom operator Reliance Jio also joined the iPhone 15 mania by offering products from the series on the respective platforms.