Much like in the past, the latest iPhone series are available across grey markets in the country, but this time they are not flying off the shelves. The dearth in sales is attributed to myriad reasons and the margins that grey marketers charge is not one of them.

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which went on sale in the US and select countries on September 16, are now available across most of the grey markets in the country. In India, the official release of the handsets is on October 7.

A number of traders at Mumbai’s Heera Panna Shopping Centre, New Delhi’s Gaffar Market and Kolkata’s Fancy Market said they have stocked the gadgets, despite the lacklustre demand.

“This time there weren’t any serious enquiries for the gadget, unlike last time, and hence we didn’t take it seriously. However, we can get you an iPhone7, if you place an order with us,” a shopkeeper at Heera Panna said.

The lack of high margins, like in the case of earlier versions (iPhone 5 and 6) is one reason for the traders not being interested in stocking the handsets.

Officially, an iPhone 7 with 32GB storage is priced at ₹60,000; 128GB at ₹70,000, and 256GB at ₹80,000. In the grey market, while the 32GB variant is not available, the 128GB one is priced at ₹75,000 and 256GB one at ₹90,000. Many of them have stocked black and gold versions. “There is not much of a margin,” admits another trader from Gaffar Market, a sentiment mirrored by others in Bengaluru, Kochi and Mumbai. Traders said the margins used to be in the range of ₹20,000-30,000 for the previous versions in the grey market.

However, the major reason is the near simultaneous launch in India. With just another 7 days to go before for the formal launch, many gadget freaks have decided to wait.

“We have already got a number of pre-booking for the genuine devices,” said Mahsood Mahamood, owner at Mashood Shopping Centre, an electronic retailer in Mumbai.

Many of the retailers also said there were accepting pre-booking for the iPhone.

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