February 6, 2018

Apple Once Again Raises iPhone Prices in India Following Custom Duty Hike in Budget 2018

Within a few days of the Indian government’s decision to increase customs duty on mobile phones, tech giant Apple has raised prices (on MRP) across iPhone models, except iPhone SE, the only Apple smartphone that the company assembles in India. Taiwanese manufacturing partner ‘Wistron Corporation’ makes iPhone SE for Apple as semi-knocked down units at a Karnataka-based facility.

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While presenting the Union Budget 2018-19 last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the customs duty on mobile phones has been raised from 15 percent to 20 percent, and on certain mobile phone components to 15 percent, to “intensify” domestic value addition and “Make in India” in the sector.

The iPhone X was already pretty expensive in India when it was first launched. Within a couple of months after its launch, Apple was forced to further increase the price of the handset in the country, due to a hike in import taxes. Now, Apple was once again forced to increase the price of the iPhone X, along with other iPhones in its lineup due to an increase in import taxes by the Indian government.

An average hike of 3.6 % has been observed in the prices of various iPhone models and up to 8.3 % in prices of Apple Watch models. For example, the 64 GB iPhone X launched at Rs 89,000 in India before a price hike in December led to it costing Rs 92,430. Now, after the custom hike, the same iPhone X carries a price tag of Rs 95,390. Likewise, the 256GB variant now carries an MRP of Rs 1,08,930.

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Other Apple products have also seen an increase in their price for Indian markets. The Apple Watch Series 3 lineup has also seen a price hike with its prices now starting from Rs 32,380 compared to the previous price tag of Rs 29,900.

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Chaitanya


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