Apple has increased the prices of some of its iPhones in India due to the increase in customs duty on imported devices along with the social welfare surcharge in the Budget in 2020. Just a few days ago, the prices of some of the iPhone models went down during the shopping fests on e-commerce websites Flipkart and Amazon but now the chances of prices going down again seem negligible.
The iPhone 11 Pro Max 64GB will now cost Rs 1,11, 200 while the 256 GB variant is prioced at Rs 1,15,200 and iPhone 11 Pro 512 GB now costs Rs 1,33,200. The iPhone 11 Pro Max was earlier priced at Rs 1,09,000.
The iPhone Pro 64GB variant will now cost Rs 1,01,200, the 256 GB variant is now priced at Rs 1,15,200 and iPhone 11 Pro 512 GB costs Rs 1,33,200. The iPhone 11 Pro was earlier priced at Rs 99,900 and during a sale on Amazon and Flipkart, the prices even went down to Rs 96,900.
The older iPhone, the iPhone 8’s price was also hiked; the 64GB variant of the phone now costs Rs 50,600 while the 128 GB variant is now priced at Rs 55,600. The prices have gone up about Rs 700 from the initial price tag of Rs 49,900. The iPhone 8 64 GB was earlier priced at Rs 40,500 while the 128 GB at Rs 45,500.
However, Apple has not increased the prices of iPhone 11, iPhone XR and iPhone 7. The iPhone 7 and iPhone XR have been exempted because they were made in India. iPhone and iPhone XR were some of the best selling phones by Apple and they had helped the company earn revenue in 2019.
The price hike was announced after Finance Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech had said that they are revising the Customs duty rates. Under Make in India initiative, well laid out customs duty rates were pre-announced for items like mobile phones, electric vehicles and their components. This has ensured a gradual increase in domestic value addition capacity in India. Customs duty rates are being revised on electric vehicles, and parts of mobiles as part of such carefully conceived Phased Manufacturing Plans, she said.
Earlier, Coronavirus outbreak in China hampered Apple’s production to a great extent. Many retail outlets were closed and employee travel to the Coronavirus affected-Wuhan was restricted.
[“source=indiatoday”]
