Apple Inc has increased prices of few of its iPhone models in India by almost 2 per cent 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.
Mobile phones were earlier exempted from 10 per cent social welfare surcharge which will now be reimposed for imported handsets. Apart from this, the company will also be required to pay 20 per cent basic customs duty for these devices. The government has increased the import duty on PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. Apart from this, the import duty on chargers has also been hiked from chargers 15 per cent to 20 per cent.
The company has hiked the prices of a few devices which are manufactured and assembled outside India to offset the costs incurred on import duties.
The US-based tech-giant has increased the prices of iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. The prices of iPhone XR and iPhone 7 which are being assembled in India through Apple supplier Foxconn and Wistron have not been increased. The iPhone 11 and iPad, Apple Watch and Mac desktops have also been exempted from the price hike.
New iPhone Prices
For its iPhone 11 series, Apple has increased the prices of its iPhone 11 Pro Max 64GB variant from ₹1,09,900 to ₹1,11,200, iPhone 11 Pro Max 256GB variant from ₹1,23,900 to ₹1,25,200 and the iPhone 11 Pro Max 512GB variant from ₹1,41,900 to ₹1,43,200.
The price of the iPhone 11 Pro 64GB variant has been increased from ₹99,900 to ₹1,01,200. iPhone 11 Pro 256GB variant will be priced at ₹1,15,200 increasing the price from from ₹1,13,900 while the iPhone 11 Pro 512GB variant price has been increased from ₹1,31,900 to ₹1,33,200.
The new price for the iPhone 8 Plus 64GB variant will be ₹50,600 as compared to its price of ₹49,900 to. For iPhone 8 Plus 128GB variant, the price has been hiked from ₹54,900 to ₹55,600. The prices have been hiked from ₹39,900 to ₹40,500 for the iPhone 64GB, while for iPhone 8 128GB, it’s been increased from ₹44,900 to ₹45,500.
The government is planning to offer more incentives to companies that assemble electronic items locally.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, the government is also planning to offer subsidised loans to smartphone manufacturers in an attempt to woo suppliers of companies like Apple Inc to open factories in India. Apple is all set to open its online stores in India this year and will launch its first brick and mortar store by 2021 according to previous reports.