Dubai: As anticipation builds ahead of the launch for the new iPhone in the US, electronic retailers across the UAE have warned the public not to give in to the urge to purchase the new model through UAE’s grey market, where prices for the phone can be twice as high as those set by retail outlets.
Ashish Panjabi, CEO of Jacky’s Electronics, said that the benefits of buying the new iPhone through licensed distributors in the UAE far outweigh any perceived benefit in buying the phone off the grey market. “Consumers will only end up harming themselves if they ultimately choose to do so,” said Punjabi.
“Not only will the iPhone be purchased at extremely high prices but the services will not be available since it will most likely have been brought in from another country,” said Panjabi.
Leading retailers have warned that in the case of an accident the consumer will have difficulty in getting the damaged phone repaired since it would have been purchased without a proper warranty. Also any service centre that agrees to repair the phone will charge a large amount of money for doing so.
Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of electronics retailer Emax, echoes a similar warning to diehard Apple fans, advising them to wait till the new iPhone will be officially launched and available for purchase across retail stores in the UAE.
According to Bhatnagar, there are cases of consumers purchasing a newly launched Apple product off the grey market and that Emax works in close association with Apple to ensure that such cases are kept to a minimum.
Status symbol
“There is a lot of excitement about the launch of the new iPhone in the US. People can’t wait to purchase one and the fact that owning one before anybody else is like a status symbol, especially in this country, might lead some to resort to the grey market,” said Panjabi.
Both Panjabi and Bhatnagar predict that once officially available in retail outlets in the UAE the new iPhone will do extremely well on the market.
“It will do a lot better than the iPhone 4S since it is supposed to be structurally different than previous designs,” said Bhatnagar. “It is going to be one of the most popular market products in the months after its launch and the demand is going to far outweigh the supply. It will be a complete sell out!”
“The price will be somewhere between Dh2,500 and Dh3,000 but the price of the product immediately after its launch in the UAE will be slightly higher than that in the US so it is better if customers wait a few weeks after its launch to purchase it,” said Bhatnagar.
Rohma Sadaqat is a trainee at Gulf News