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Apple isn't happy about India's demand to upgrade older iPhones with USB-C (appleinsider.com)
submitted 2 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Apple isn't happy about India's demand to upgrade older iPhones with USB-C::Apple has urged the Indian IT ministry to make changes to its single charger rules, as adding USB-C to older iPhone models will make it hard for Apple to meet production targets for India's manufacturing and export laws.

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[–] 5 points 2 years ago (5 children)

The answer will be that Apple won’t sell iPhones without USB-C in India at all. Have fun waiting for like, 3 years to buy a relatively inexpensive iOS device.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    If this were a small country, yes that is what would happen. In the second most populous country, I suspect that's too huge of a market to just accept as a loss.

    Once a customer leaves the apple ecosystem they're unlikely to return to it. So they would lose those customers forever.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Unfortunately, Apple's marketshare in India is tiny, so they can leave without too much loss.

    Also, India is now the world's most populous country. :-(

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    That also means that there's still a huge potential for growth, before competitors reel in their potential customers. If they let other manufacturers divide the market among themselves, it may be harder to gain market share later.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    There's enough supply of inexpensive Android phones that support standard chargers. It's not a problem for consumers if they can't buy older models of iPhones, there are tons of other smartphones.

    It definitely hurts Apple to loose out in a market as big as India's. But that's their fault. They had enough time.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    There's a fad in India that having an iPhone makes you a sophisticated person.

    I have colleagues who've spent more than a whole month's salary over it. They all use WhatsApp instead of Apple Messages, put on a ₹100 cover they got by bargaining at the railway station they commute to everyday for 2 hours, can't afford the wireless charger, and every 3rd person seems to have one - idk what's sophisticated about such an unexclusive device ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Why so? They have moved to USB C already.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    But they’re not going to redesign all the older iPhone models to have USB-C. They’ll just stop selling those models.

    Edit: and there’s no fucking way that the Indian government can successfully compel Apple to repair every iPhone 14-or-under in India. That is simply not happening.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago

    Exactly, it's complete overreach and isn't going to happen. What's been made has been made already. As you said, they simply stop shipping older model phones, and then Indian people will have less affordable phones to choose from. No way in hell Apple is cracking open phones and desoldering ports and replacing them, the cost would make the old ones cost more than the new ones.

    Govts always take shit too far.

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