Google Nexus 4 may be priced around Rs. 30,000 in India

Flagship Android smartphones, the likes of Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X, etc., are generally priced above Rs. 30,000 in India. The Google Nexus 4 with its $350 price tag on Google Play store has got the Android community in India all excited. I am personally all set to buy the device if it costs anything below Rs. 25,000. The reality, however, might be very different. The Nexus 4 in India might just be priced closer to $650, rather than the $350.

Nexus 4 U.S. pricingWhen Google announced the Nexus 4 we were pretty impressed with the specifications. What impressed us more was the pricing of the device - 8GB model for $299 (Rs. 16,300 approx.), and a 16GB model for $349 (Rs. 19,000 approx.) unlocked. The phone will be selling at the mentioned price if a user picks it up from the Google Play store. A version of the Nexus 4 will be available in the US that will be on contract with T-Mobile and will be priced at $199.

Google Play store (Nexus section)
Now, India doesn't have access to the hardware section of the Google Play store, where Google lists its Nexus devices. In the past, we haven’t seen any Nexus smartphone officially launch in India. We were expecting the Samsung Galaxy Nexus to see the light of day in India for months, with Samsung only recently introducing the device in limited quantities at select stores.

Asus’ Nexus 7 India pricingAsus has manufactured the Nexus 7 tablet for Google and the 16GB variant is priced at $199 (Rs. 10,800 approx.). The Nexus 7 just launched in India today, and unfortunately, bears a whopping Rs. 19,981 price tag – or nearly twice the U.S. asking rate.

Our readers have already expressed disappointment at this turn of events – the much awaited low-cost Nexus 7 tablet from Google no longer falls in the low-cost category in India, in fact, is just a few grand away from the iPad 2 pricing, and the expected iPad mini pricing.

Google’s subsidized/at cost Nexus pricing If Asus’ pricing of the Nexus 7 in the Indian market is any indication, we can forget about the LG Nexus 4 being priced anywhere close to the U.S. unlocked pricing. To further rub salt in Indian consumers’ wounds, recent reports indicate that Google’s $199 and $249 U.S. price points, are in fact subsidized, and are only this low at the Google Play store.

The reports claim that while many European customers will be able to buy the Nexus 4 from the Google Play store (only in some regions) at relatively reasonable prices, customers who are forced buy the device from retailers or LG, will be paying a substantially higher amount – anywhere from €549 to €599.

Just what will it cost in India?Keeping this information in mind, we are highly skeptical that the LG Nexus 4 will be available in India at anywhere close to the $199 price point. As we mentioned, India, just like the few unlucky regions in Europe, does not have access to the hardware Nexus section of the Google Play store. We can therefore expect non-subsidized pricing in India, which could be as high as $750 (or roughly, Rs. 40,000), or more reasonably $550 (the pricing of the unlocked and similar specced LG Optimus G in the U.S).

If true, this pricing is roughly comparable to other top-end smartphones in the Indian market, from the Galaxy S III, to the HTC One X, automatically negating the single biggest draw to the Nexus 4 – its attractive pricing!

Would Indian consumers choose to buy the LG Nexus 4 at the Rs. 30,000 – Rs. 35,000 price point? Is the vanilla, update-friendly nature of the Nexus 4 sufficient to make the device appealing?

We argue, that yes, it is quite sufficient, but only if the device manages to perform at par with the other top-end Android smartphones in the Indian market. LG Nexus 4 customers will then get a top-end quad-core device with direct access to Google’s latest Android updates. The lack of LTE support, when the service is available only in a few, sparsely served regions in India, is not an important enough deterrent. The lack of a microSD card slot, and perhaps a few niggles, dostand out sorely however.

While we do wish such an eventuality (of LG maintaining a $550-$750 price point in India) does not occur, if true, we would recommend interested but price conscious Nexus 4 buyers to consider buying the imported units from resellers like eBay.in, or asking a Stateside friend to send one across. Warranty certainly becomes a concern then however. For a list of other countries where the Nexus section of the Google Play store is active, click here.

Let us know what you think about the probable pricing of the LG Nexus 4 in India, in the comments section below: