Now you can own an iPhone 5S or the iPhone 5C model for just Rs. 2,999 or Rs. 2,599 per month – that’s with no down payment. The Reliance offer (revolutionary way to buy the iPhone) looks quite tempting well at least in the initial phase you keep paying the monthly installments for 2 years, own the iPhone and also get unlimited data, SMS and voice with roaming for the whole contract period.
Rs. 2,999 adds up to Rs. 71,976 for the Apple iPhone 5S model and Rs. 2,599 adds up to Rs. 62,376 for Apple iPhone 5C model in 2 years. Now that seems too costly and as per the current handset price you will end up paying Rs. 18,476 and Rs. 20,476 for 5S and 5C models respectively over a period of 2 years. However reliance is offering unlimited data, voice, SMS and roaming for the contract period, that again looks too tempting. You can make voice calls and send SMS’s to other networks too, it is not just limited to Reliance networks.
If you look it in this way you are spending Rs. 18,476 (for 5S) extra in 2 years that comes to 769.83 Rs. per month and extra Rs. 20,476 in 2 years i.e. Rs. 853 per month. The rest of the money consider that as the full payment for the respective handsets for over a 24 months period.
Now for Rs. 853 and Rs. 769 you get unlimited voice which I think is too good, unless you are not happy with reliance network or don’t want to switch or your usage is not that much (monthly bill less than Rs. 1000).. I think it a really good and tempting scheme from reliance that could not only boost Apple iPhone 5S and Apple iPhone 5C sales but also get reliance more customers.
In case you don’t want to go in for the reliance scheme you can get the iPhone from any store or online using your credit card and convert it into 24 months EMI and still stick to your current service provider. You need to work out on the amount you will be spending on your monthly network plans and go for whichever is cheaper and feasible.
Do go through the terms and conditions as mentioned on the Reliance website, just in case there is a cap for the unlimited data download from reliance or for the voice calls, there is a cap of 3000 SMS’s per month this is as per the regulatory guidelines.
To avail this offer you need to purchase the iPhone 5C or iPhone 5S from reliance outlets and this scheme is available only on selected credit cards only. Also note that when you use your credit card for making payments and switch to EMI the full amount is still treated as an outstanding but not billed instead you just pay the monthly EMI. This means that if you spend 50K on credit card with max limit of 100K, you will not be able to use the card for any amount over 50K, the 50K spent and then converted to EMI, will be considered as an outstanding amount and that will be deducted from your current credit limit.
Probably other service providers might also come up with some lucrative plans for Apple iPhone or may be for other devices in the future – without any down payments.
The basis idea of EMI is that you end up paying the current amount + extra after 2 years. In other words when you use the EMI scheme you pay in installments and in 2 years (or as per the scheme) pay the full amount, now the same handset after 2 years (in case you planning to buy after 2 years) will not cost as much as it does today.