The Curious Case of iPhones in India
Apple came up with the iPhone 12 mini this year. On paper, it is one of the best entry-level iPhone ever. It’s smaller and cheaper, yet it has the same hardware as the normal-sized iPhone 12. A lot of people, including me were excited to see this. The starting price announced in the US was 699$ (about 50,000 Rs), which is perfect for people who were already buying OnePlus phones in the 40k range.
This looked too good to be true, and it was. As the Indian prices of the new lineup have been announced, the iPhone 12 will cost Rs. 69,900, about 40% costlier than the US version.
I would stop here to state that I am not a generic apple hater. I have been using MacBooks for the past 5 years, and can’t think of switching to anything else. I had used an iPhone before as well, and the way it syncs with your MacBook is too awesome. While I believe that a 1.5 Lakh MacBook is totally worth it, I can’t say the same about the iPhones.
Why are iPhones costlier in India?
Apple doesn’t have a local manufacturing unit in India, which means that they need to pay higher taxes and customs. In addition to that, Apple products are sold through 3rd party retailers, and vendors in India, which leads to more middlemen who take their cut.
It’s become so ridiculous, that you can technically fly to Dubai, buy an iPhone 12, come back to India and it would still be cheaper than simply buying the phone here.
Is it worth it?
We might not like to admit it, but a lot of our opinions are shaped by social media influencers from countries like the USA. We would look at tech YouTubers comparing an iPhone with a Samsung or a OnePlus phone and see them praise the iPhone, and justify the premium price. But the situation doesn’t simply translate to what we have here in India.
For instance, the new OnePlus 8T (256gb) costs 749$ in the states. And the iPhone 12 costs 799$.
In India, the same OnePlus phone costs 45,999 Rs. Whereas, the iPhone costs 79,900 Rs.
When an American Youtuber says that the iPhone is better than the OnePlus8, he is only looking at a 50$ price difference. But if you put that in the Indian context, do you really think that the 34,000 Rs (about 450$) price difference is fair?
So I put the question out to you, do you really think buying an iPhone in India is worth it?