Apple To Hike Prices For 4 iPhone Models In India Due To Higher Import Duties

As a result of a hike in import duties recently announced for the Indian federal budget, Apple has been forced to increase the price of some of its iPhone models to offset the extra tax.

The affected models are iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max and from Monday, customers will have to pay 2% more for them.

Handsets used to be excluded from the social welfare surcharge of 10% but that will soon change for imported smartphones. That is not all, Apple is also subjected to the 20% basic customs duty.

Two other merchandises that saw an increased tax duty is PCBs assemblies (short for printed circuit board) by 10%, to 20%, and chargers, from 15% to 20%.

iPhone 7 and iPhone XR are not on the list of price hike because they are now assembled locally in India by Apple’s partners Foxconn and Wistron. iPhone 11 has also been excluded from this price increase. However, we are not sure why it is the case.

Wistron’s new India-based factory will reportedly start manufacturing printed circuit boards by April, which might be the reason for Apple to lower the price of its handsets in the country. PCBs are essential for key components of an iPhone like storage, processors, and memory and the printed circuit board alone usually makes up half the price of a handset.

Apple has been trying for years to secure its presence in India, one of its most prominent markets. In the annual shareholder meeting, Tim Cook, the company’s CEO said that Apple’s first online store will be opened this year and a brick-and-mortar retail store will come into being in 2021.

So far, customers are only able to buy Apple products through third-party retailers as regulations on foreign investment forbid the company to distribute its products directly in India.

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