After months of waiting, the iPhone 5 is finally coming to India. Today Airtel has started taking preorders for the iPhone 5 16 GB for Rs 45,500. At the moment, only the black version of the iPhone 5 is available. And the orders are currently limited to the 16 GB model. The orders will ship in 7 to 8 working days as per Airtel, and the listing says the device will be available from November 2. Thats the official launch date for the iPhone 5 in India, so nobody is getting it any earlier than that.
If you were wondering about the 32 GB and 64 GB models, Airtel hasnt put up prices for those yet, and no word yet on when the white one turns up. Aircel has the iPhone up on their site as Coming Soon, and they are expected to come out with their own plans around the launch.
Also, Apple isnt selling through the operators directly here. The distribution is going through Ingram Micro and Redington India, which is why sites like Saholic are also taking preorders today at the same Rs 45,500, while Infibeam is taking bookings against a Rs 5,000 advance. So you do have options if you dont want to go the Airtel route. We will update once Aircel opens up its bookings. Stay tuned !!
Partly reconstructed with AI. This post’s full text was lost when the site went offline. Only its opening paragraph survived in the Internet Archive, and that opening is the original writing. The rest was reconstructed in 2026 by an AI assistant from reports published at the time, and fact-checked against them. Sources used: digit.in, telecomtalk.info, crazyengineers.com, thetechpanda.com, mobigyaan.com.
