Reliance Jio has opened pre-booking for the new Apple iPhone with an effective price of just Rs 9,200 under a dual cashback offer.
The sticker price of iPhone 8 is Rs 64,000 in Jio stores.
However, if you buy the device along with a 12 month contract of services from Jio, the company will return 70% of the money you paid at the end of the contract period.
In other words, out of the 64,000 you paid, you will get Rs 44,800 back, reducing your net price to just Rs 19,200. You must return the model at the end of the first year, and not before, or well after, the one-year period.
This amount can be further brought down to Rs 9,200 if you purchase the phone on Sept 29 using a Citibank card as the bank will give you a cash back of Rs 10,000.
However, Jio is not promising any specific dates for starting delivery of the phones in India.
As a result, it’s not clear whether people can indeed avail of the Citibank scheme as the bank offer is only valid on Sept 29.
Jio said it cannot assure delivery on any specific date due to the uncertainties related to hardware supply.
To avail the Citi offer, one has to use the bank’s card both for pre-booking the phone and making the final payment.
Another point of uncertainty is whether offer is valid only on Citibank credit cards or on both credit and debit cards.
For now, prebooking is available at all Reliance Digital and Jio Store outlets, and will soon go live on Jio.com. Prebooking has to be done before 28 September by paying Rs 1,999.
Besides the regular model, there is also the bigger iPhone 8 Plus, priced at Rs 73,000.
This is available at an effective price of Rs 21,900 excluding the bank offer. After adjusting for the Rs 10,000 cash back, the effective price can be brought down further to Rs 11,900.
The iPhone X is not available in India.
Buyers also have to subscribe to Jio’s services during the period. The plan costs Rs 799 to get 3 GB of data per day plus unlimited voice and messaging for 28 days. It is available for both prepaid and postpaid categories.
On the day of delivery, the person will get an SMS and email with the details of the store from where he or she can collect the device on payment of the remainder of the money.
Buyers will have to carry their Aadhaar card for identification. Users can also opt for home delivery, in which case the balance payment will have to done online.
The regular iPhone and the Plus version are largely similar, except for the display, the overall size and the camera.
The smaller version has a 4.7 inch display, while the Plus version has a 5.5 inch one. The Plus version also comes with a dual-camera setup at the back, which is supposed to give better picture quality, especially in low light conditions.