Apple inevitably hikes iPhone prices in India; appoints new country head
- dec
- 19
All iPhone models see a marginal price hike in India as Apple brings in Michel Coulomb to lead country operations.
Late last week, the Indian government announced that it would increase import duties of phones from 10% to 15% in a move that's designed to hurt Apple. The change in policy was aimed at giving brands an added push to set up local manufacturing facilities in the country.
With Apple importing nearly 90% of devices sold in India and unable to establish a manufacturing hub in the timeframe provided by the government, the only recourse was to increase the prices. The price hike is marginal — for devices like the iPhone 8, you're looking at an increase of ₹2,120 ($35), going up to ₹3,430 ($55) for the likes of the iPhone X.
Here's a look at the breakdown of the old and new pricing of iPhone models in India:
| Model | Old price | New price |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 6 32GB | ₹29,500 | ₹30,780 |
| iPhone 6s 32GB | ₹40,000 | ₹41,550 |
| iPhone 6s 128GB | ₹49,000 | ₹50,660 |
| iPhone 6s Plus 32GB | ₹49,000 | ₹50,740 |
| iPhone 6S Plus 128GB | ₹58,000 | ₹59,860 |
| iPhone 7 32GB | ₹49,000 | ₹50,810 |
| iPhone 7 128GB | ₹58,000 | ₹59,910 |
| iPhone 7 Plus 32GB | ₹59,000 | ₹61,060 |
| iPhone 7 Plus 128GB | ₹68,000 | ₹70,180 |
| iPhone 8 64GB | ₹64,000 | ₹66,120 |
| iPhone 8 256GB | ₹77,000 | ₹79,420 |
| iPhone 8 Plus 64GB | ₹73,000 | ₹75,450 |
| iPhone 8 Plus 256GB | ₹86,000 | ₹88,750 |
| iPhone X 64GB | ₹89,000 | ₹92,430 |
| iPhone X 256GB | ₹1,02,000 | ₹1,05,720 |
The iPhone SE is unchanged as it is locally assembled in Bangalore. Apple has also appointed Michel Coulomb to head its operations in India following the departure of Sanjay Kaul. The announcement was delivered by Apple's head of emerging markets Hugues Asseman at the Indian subsidiary's annual sales conference in Goa.
There's no official statement from the manufacturer regarding the ouster of Kaul, but Economic Times is attributing the change to Apple's lackluster performance in India this year.
Although Tim Cook announced a 37% increase in sales from last year, it looks like the company didn't meet its internal estimates for the year:
Apple had a plan to sell ten million iPhones in India by 2017 under an internal strategy called 'Project Everest' which was made along with consultancy BCG. However, the company can barely sell around 3.5-4 million iPhones this year. Asseman is on-ground executive and is expected to push growth as well reverse the plunging ASAP.
Meanwhile, Coulomb has been with Apple for over 14 years, leading the company's operations in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa before taking up a stint as the Managing Director of South Asia.