There are smartphone deals, and then there are more smartphone deals. The online retailers are falling over themselves to offer the maximum possible discounts on the latest and popular smartphones. However, as we speak, popular online retailer Flipkart, is now advertising some very interesting deals across a variety of products and gadgets on their website. We take a look at the smartphone category, specifically the most popular and the newest smartphones that you can buy in India at the moment. And the deals being offered on them.
What makes these deals stand out in the crowd?
Multiple reasons, at least on paper – there are two layers of deals and discounts currently active on Flipkart. First is the level 1 discount strategy, which is what we are fairly well accustomed with. There will be the MRP of the phone, with the on-offer/slashed price next to it. This is active on almost all products.
However, the second level discount is the most interesting one. If you have a Standard Chartered credit card, you will get an additional 10% cashback discount on products above Rs 10000. This offer is applicable on all Standard Chartered credit cards, including the Manhattan co-branded ones. And these discounts are applicable over and above any basic discounts that Flipkart may be offering on the product anyway.
This cashback scheme is valid from 8th October 2013 to 3rd November 2013, till just after Diwali.
But there must be some catch?
Yes. Quite a few, actually. And you need to understand these before making the purchase.
First is the very basic requirement of the Standard Chartered credit card. While all credit and debit cards can be used for this offer, you basically are getting the discount as a cashback. If you buy a product today, you will get the cashback credited back to the credit card account and the bank account (in case of a debit card) by 30th November 2013. Essentially, in most likeliness, you will be paying the first discounted price for the purchase in the very next credit card statement, with the cashback reflecting in the statement after that.
Second, this offer is only valid on products priced above Rs 10000. So, if you like a phone or a tablet that costs less than Rs 10000, tough luck.
Third, and this is the critical bit – the maximum cashback you will get on the purchases during the offer period is Rs 5000, per credit card. Be that across multiple purchases during these dates, or one single billing. Essentially, if you buy a Rs 70000 laptop, the ideal cashback amount on Rs 70000 would be Rs 7000, but according to the fineprint, the actual cashback that you are eligible for is Rs 5000. In such a case, the actual cashback for you will not be the advertised 10%.
Fourth, the only products the 10% Cashback is valid for are the ones that are listed with the seller as WS Retail. You will not get this discount on listing from other sellers. And just to prepare you for the worst, you may end up with a product that is not listed by WS Retail. For example, none of the MacBooks that we were interested in were listed by WS Retail, which meant the Standard Chartered offer wasn’t valid on them.
The deals: Smartphones we recommend
Among a whole bunch of deals on smartphones, we have picked out a few that we believe are worth your time and money. The table is arranged according to price in descending order, and not indicative of any personal preference or bias.
| Listed Price | 10% Cashback eligible amount | Price after Cashback | |
| HTC One (dual-SIM) | 44999 | 4500 | 40499 |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | 41500 | 4150 | 37390 |
| Apple iPhone 5 | 42749 | 4275 | 38474 |
| LG G2 | 40490 | 4049 | 36441 |
| LG Optimus G Pro | 32999 | 3300 | 29699 |
| Nokia Lumia 920 | 22999 | 2300 | 20699 |
| Nokia Lumia 720 | 16500 | 1650 | 14850 |
The HTC One dual-SIM offers the rather unique point of a flagship smartphone offering the dual-SIM capability, along with very good performance and a build quality that is pretty much unmatched.
The Sony Xperia Z1 is the latest, and possibly the greatest Android smartphone you can buy at the moment. The Snapdragon 800 processor takes it to the top of the performance charts, across all the phones that we have tested. The deal is further sweetened with the free original carry case worth Rs. 2990/-, the Sony CP-F5 portable charger worth Rs. 2790/-, Rs 2000 worth of free eBooks for the Flipkart ebooks app and the 6 month accidental damage protection program for the phone. For this price, you are getting a Samsung Galaxy S4, but the Xperia Z1 trumps it all ends up in terms of performance.
The Apple iPhone 5 – well, you may say that the newer iPhone 5c would be the one to but. But, do consider that for relatively the same hardware and specifications, the iPhone 5 offers the much more premium aluminum finish, slimmer profile and a rather slim form factor. If you are considering the iPhone 5c, we would recommend the iPhone 5 over that.
The LG G2 is truly a surprise package from LG. The performance is pretty much at par with the Sony Xperia Z1, but the IPS display is one to die for. The extremely slim bezel around the screen makes this big screen phone rather comfortable to hold, and gives it a form factor pretty similar to the Samsung Galaxy S4.
If you are in the market for a phablet, the Optimus G Pro will cost you less than Rs 29000, and for decently Snapdragon 600 powered device, this is a steal deal.
A Nokia Lumia 920 for just over Rs 20000 is an amazing deal. It is by far the best Windows Phone deal, and packs in fairly competent hardware and a camera that no other for that price can match.
The Nokia Lumia 720 is another phone that ticks a lot of the correct boxes – excellent unibody build, the camera that is far better than the rival products around Rs 15000, a very smooth Windows operating system and all this in a form factor that is compact and super slim at just 9mm thickness.
Buy from here!
You can head to the following links to buy the products:
HTC One here
Sony Xperia Z1 here
Apple iPhone 5 here
LG G2 here
LG Optimus G Pro here
Nokia Lumia 920 here
Nokia Lumia 720 here
In case you come across any interesting smartphone deals on Flipkart, or any other shopping website for that matter, we would love to hear from you. Directly get in touch with the author via Twitter here.
UPDATE: Flipkart got in touch with us, and has informed us that the cashback offer is now valid across all sellers on Flipkart.com, and not just WS Retail. The offer’s Terms & Conditions page has been updated as well to reflect this change.