Here’s one for your Christmas shopping list — that is, if you haven’t already bought one from Singapore or further abroad (and if you did, we get it, you’ve got money to burn).
Teletama Artha Mandiri, one of the official distributors of Apple smartphones in Indonesia, announced that the newest iPhone models, the X, 8, and the 8 Plus, will be officially available in Indonesian stores starting on December 22, the firm confirmed to Kompas today.
The premium smartphones will be sold in Teletama Artha Mandiri’s affiliated stores such as iBox, Erafone, and Urban Republic throughout the country.
The prices for the new iPhones in Indonesia have not been revealed. However, based on previous models, the retail price for iPhones sold in Indonesia were usually around 30% more expensive than the global price, meaning it’s likely that the iPhone 8 would cost around IDR10 million (US$737.57), the iPhone 8 Plus IDR13 million (US$958.84), and the iPhone X IDR16 million (US$1180.12).
We probably don’t have to tell you that there are smartphones with superior specs and features that cost less than half of that. Indonesians too, seem to prefer bang for buck over flash when it comes to choosing smartphones — last year, research showed that low to mid range Samsung, ASUS, and Oppo smartphones dominated the market share in the country, meaning that it’s unlikely the new iPhone will overtake them any time soon due to their steep prices.
That said, the iPhone continues to be the global market leader for smartphones. Impatient tech geeks and Apple fanboys formed ridiculously massive queues for the pointless title of being among the first ones to own the new iPhone during its global launch on November 3, like we saw in Singapore.
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