iPhone is sold at a much higher price in India, what is the reason for Apple's duplicity?

Just three days ago (September 7th) Apple launched its latest handset series iPhone 14 (iPhone 14). And, like other times, all four iPhones of this series have come in the premium range. But if you take a look, you will see that the price of new iPhones in India is much higher than in the US market. In this case, while the price of the recently launched standard iPhone 14 in the US starts from 799 dollars (about 63,700 rupees), the phone has entered the market at an initial price of 79,900 rupees. That is, the difference between the iPhone prices in the two markets is around Rs. 16,200. Naturally, the question may arise, why this price disparity means that the price of iPhone in India is so high? 

'Multi-price' iPhones have always been priced higher in India

The price of iPhone is already high compared to other brands of devices. However, if you want to buy a handset with half-eaten apple logo in India, you have to spend more. Not only the iPhone 14 series, Apple's various smartphones are always sold at high prices in India. For example, iPhone SE 2022 (iPhone SE 2022) now sells for Rs 49,900 in India, while the price of this device in the US is around Rs 32,000. In that case, let's say, the reason for the high price of iPhone is not that complicated but serious for the company.

According to a report by CNBC, a person familiar with the matter said that the cost of assembling the iPhone in India will not come down. Because OEMs or Original Equipment Manufacturers still have to pay high import duties on components. In fact, even though the company has been focusing on assembling the iPhone (primarily iPhone 12 and iPhone 13) or iPhone manufacturing in India, around 20% of the printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) used in the iPhone has to be imported; For this they have to pay import duty. Again apart from import duty, 18% GST is levied on smartphones in the country. Because of all these costs, Apple sells iPhones at higher prices in the Indian market. Apart from this, the widening gap between the dollar and the rupee is also responsible for the increase in the price of the iPhone.