With the expectation that a newer model of the iPhone 4S is about to come to market, the price of the 16GB top-of-the-line smartphone has been steadily declining.
Price Going Down
The Apple iPhone has experienced a 20 percent price drop just in the last week or so. The latest reduction was offered as a deal on a group buying web site in which the phone could be acquired for Dh 2629 ($715), 20 percent less than in many electronic stores throughout the UAE. There are even classified ads offering the iPhone for only Dh2000 as a special deal.
Apple chose to launch the iPhone 4S last October, despite the fact that the much more sophisticated iPhone 5, with the famous Siri voice recognition software, was already available elsewhere.
Great Price Already
The original price of the 16GB iPhone 4S in the UAE was Dh5200 on the grey market. After a month the phone was already priced at Dh4250. By December the price further plunged; Etisalat and du launched the 4S in the UAE for only Dh2749. These prices represent a serious discount on what the iPhone 4S costs in the rest of the world outside of Europe and the US.
In India the 16GB iPhone goes for Rs 44.500 (Dh3325) and in Indonesia, a country which only began selling the iPhone as of last Friday, the price is $850 (Dh3121.)
Waiting and Anticipating
One of the main reasons the price of the iPhone in the UAE has been plummeting is because there is anxious anticipation of the release of Apple’s latest iPhone model, the iPhone 5.
"Apple fans now want to look forward to the new model. Yes, Siri has been amazing, but I am eagerly awaiting to find out what is new in the iPhone 5," said one analyst of the situation.
One dealer in the UAE of iPhones commented that the price of the iPhone 4S will probably not drop any further.
"Initially the cost was artificially high because of the non-availability. Today the situation has changed and the price has evened out. We may not see a further drop from here on," he said.
The latest data of iPhone sales shows that the 4S has been a major presence in the US market beginning in October 2011. In a recently conducted survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners it was shown that iPhone sales make up about 89 percent of all US smartphone sales.