Apple iPhone price increases in India after the raised custom duties

As was an expected move, Apple has officially increased the prices of the iPhone lineup as well as for the Apple Watches. Every iPhone has seen a price gain by about 2.5 to 3 percent, thanks to the recent raise in the custom duties announced at the Budget 2018 in India.

Just a couple of months back, the custom duties had seen a hike from 10% to 15% and that also had resulted in higher cost for the iPhones, but that duty price being changed from 15% to 20%, there is a further hike seen in the price. The retailer chains have been notified about the new prices and following are the new prices.

Apple iPhone prices – February 2018

To confirm the change in prices, Apple has also changed the official pricing on the product pages on the company’s website. The hike in custom duties is to promote the “Make in India” campaign that is being pushed by the government of India and these moves are said to be falling in line with the interest for companies to setup local manufacturing plants.

Apple is yet to get proper implementation done with the manufacturing plants in India, although it was recently said that the company is in talks with the Karnataka govt. to setup a plant there. Other smartphone companies like Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, and a few others have already set up assembly units and factories in various parts of the country and it is likely that the custom duty changes wouldn’t affect the prices of smartphones from these brands a lot.