How to rent Apple iPhone X at just Rs 3,188 per month

Jio’s rise in the Indian telecom sector has been unprecedented. Across the industry, not only the high-speed data tariffs have come down drastically, but the voice calls have been virtually made free due to the impact.

Flagship phones have been getting more and more expensive each year, and this year Apple has launched the most expensive iPhones ever, with the top-of-the-line 256GB iPhone X retailing upwards of Rs 1 lakh.

Jio, sensing the opportunity, has launched a special buyback offer for Apple’s iPhone 8/8 Plus and X handsets. Under the scheme, Jio will buy the aforesaid iPhone models back from the customers for a whopping 70 per cent (guaranteed) of the invoice value (at the time of purchase) to the customer in return. This pulls down the iPhone X (256GB), that costs around Rs 1,02,000 to a mere Rs 26,700. Reliance Digital will repay you back 70 per cent of this amount. So why go elsewhere to buy an iPhone when you can avail such a lucrative offer where you use the phone for a period of one year and return it back with a promise of 70 per cent of the purchase value. However, though the offer seems irresistible, it is not as simple as it appears to be. So what is the catch? Read on.

The buyback is subject to terms and conditions that Reliance Jio and Reliance Digital have surprisingly come up with.

Reliance Jio claims it is India's fastest 4G provider.

The offer is subject to a few initial rules. You need to buy the handset (any iPhone 8 or X) from any Reliance Digital store or online partners, and also subscribe to a particular plan on Jio. After a period of one year, you can then return the handset and all the accessories with a valid bill and in mint condition, to get the buyback value. But there are a few fine prints that you need to know.

Some of the key terms and conditions are as follows:

The customer need buy the phone(s) outright — No EMI applicable.

The customer will also have to ‘compulsorily’ select/buy Reliance Jio’s monthly Rs 799 plan for 12 months, which offers 3GB of data per day and unlimited calling. You can also make a one-time payment of Rs 9,999 and enjoy the plan for 12 months.

Now for the buy-back post one year of use. The iPhone to be returned needs to be in mint, usable condition. What Jio means by mint condition is that phone should not be physically damaged and all functionality of phone needs to be intact. Of course, normal wear and tear of the device due to usage is excluded, but is still subject to inspection from Jio’s team. Additionally, the phones should also not be jailbroken, should be unlocked from Apple services, and all your data needs to be emptied out before returning it under the said scheme.

On completing the inspection and subject to Jio’s satisfaction on the condition of the phone, Reliance Jio will offer you a credit note of 70 per cent of the invoice value, which can only be used at a Reliance Digital store around the country or online.

You should know this:

If you damage your phone, you could be at a huge loss of Rs 1,02,000 as you will no longer be holding a valid phone for buyback.

You should also know this:

The 70 per cent buyback value is calculated on the gross price of the phone excluding all taxes.

This means if the total invoice value of your iPhone is Rs 1,02,000, then it’s gross value will be Rs 91,072 and the taxes @12 per cent GST would be Rs 10,928.  The buyback value will now be 70 per cent on the gross value (Rs 91,072) and not on the entire Rs 1,02,000 bill. This effectively means that your buyback amount will be Rs 63,750 (i.e. 70 per cent of 91,072) only. In simple words, the tax amount is not part of buyback amount calculation.

But did you know this?

The actual cost of your iPhone X now shot up to Rs 38,250 (Rs 1,02,000 – Rs 63,750 = Rs 38,250), and not Rs 26,700, which is being noted by many others online. In short, you are actually renting out your phone for a price of Rs 3,188 per month (telecom services costs will be additional).

Do note: You will not be refunded the buyback amount in hard cash.

A credit voucher with a limited validity of 3 months, which can be redeemed only at Reliance Digital Stores across the country, will be handed over.

You can utilise this credit towards purchasing any product of your choice available at the Reliance digital stores. The product could be another phone, home appliances or anything else available at the store.

Be smart: How to intelligently increase the validity of this credit note from 3 months to 15 months.

You can use the credit note of the buyback amount for a period of 3 months from issue. But in order to increase the validity, you can be smart and convert the credit note into gift vouchers from the Reliance store on the last day of the credit note’s expiry, thus effectively extending the validity of the credit voucher (i.e. 3months +12 months).

How to avail the Offer —

The buyback offer is valid only for Apple iPhones bought from Reliance retail stores, Jio.com, MyJio or Amazon.in (only via seller Reliance Digital though). The buyback offer is valid on purchases made between September 29th, 2017 to December 31st, 2017. For detailed terms and conditions, you can visit the Jio website.

Though we think this offer is a good value for customers who frequently upgrade to new phones, we would like to inform you that it can turn out to be an expensive affair if you plan not to upgrade, damage your phone or happen to lose it.

One last mention: Will the iPhone X fetch just Rs 63,750 after one year in the second sale market? It could be much more…. Don’t forget to check out the value of the phone in the used handset market before approaching Reliance a year later. Even if the value is similar to what Reliance offers, you would still walk home with hard cash.

So are you rushing to Reliance Digital?