Following recent news by the government of India regarding an increase in import duties, Apple’s now responded to the announcement by boosting the price of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 8 models sold in the country in order to offset the costlier import duties.
The Indian government has reportedly doubled the import duty on printed circuit board assembly from ten percent to twenty percent. At the same time, the import duty on smartphone chargers has been hiked from fifteen percent to twenty percent.
The Hindu’s Business Line reported Monday:
Apple’s increased prices of few of its iPhone models in India by almost two percent effective from Monday, owing to the increase in duties following the announcement in the Union Budget 2020. The hike is in light of the proposed increase in import duty in the Union Budget on the import of various products both by way of increase in basic customs duty (BCD) rate and withdrawal of earlier exemption from BCD / Social Welfare Surcharge.
The following models manufactured and assembled outside India saw their prices go up:
- 64GB iPhone 11 Pro: ₹99,900 → ₹1,01,200
- 256GB iPhone 11 Pro: ₹1,13,900 → ₹1,15,200
- 512GB iPhone 11 Pro: ₹1,31,900 → ₹1,33,200
- 64GB iPhone 11 Pro Max: ₹1,09,900 → ₹1,11,200
- 256GB iPhone 11 Pro Max: ₹1,23,900 → ₹1,25,200
- 512GB iPhone 11 Pro Max: ₹1,41,900 → ₹1,43,200
- 64GB iPhone 8: ₹39,900 → ₹40,500
- 128GB iPhone 8: ₹44,900 → ₹45,500
- 64GB iPhone 8 Plus: ₹49,900 → ₹50,600
- 128GB iPhone 8 Plus: ₹54,900 → ₹55,600
The regular iPhone 11 models, as well as all iPads, Apple Watch models and Mac desktops, are exempted from the price hike. Up until recently, mobile phones sold in India, a 1.44 billion people market, used to be exempted from the country’s ten percent social welfare surcharge.
Prices of “Assembled in India” iPhone XR and iPhone 7 models have stayed the same.
The Cupertino giant last years stopped selling older iPhones in India, leaving the iPhone 6s as its entry-level offering. That was interpreted as an attempt to boost the iPhone’s average selling price in the country in order to boost Apple’s profit and revenue, although some analysts warned that doing so would also lower Apple’s already minuscule unit market share in India.
Apple’s contract manufacturers Wistron last year expanded production of iPhones in the country to the iPhone XS and iPhone XR series. The iPhone maker doubled-down on its other operations in India: its Maps team has been expanding coverage in the country and Tim Cook recently confirmed his company will open its first company-owned retail store in India in 2021.
“I don’t want somebody else to run the brand for us,” he said answering a question from an investor at the annual shareholder meeting at the Apple Park headquarters last month. “We wouldn’t be a very good partner in retail,” the CEO added. “We like to do things our way.”
Apple has so far used third-party resellers to sell iPhones in India.