Apple lifts older iPhone prices in India by as much as 41 percent

Apple raised Indian prices on older iPhones by as much as 41 per cent within hours of unveiling the iPhone 18 Pro line and its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, at an event the company called Surprise and Shine. New chief executive John Ternus made the announcements. Reuters called the Indian increases among the steepest Apple has posted in any market this year. Equivalent U.S. rises on the same older models ran from 10 to 21 per cent.

The 256 GB iPhone 17 now lists at Rs 99,900 in India, up Rs 17,000 from Rs 82,900. The 512 GB 17 is Rs 1,24,900, up from Rs 1,02,900. The iPhone 17e 256 GB moved from Rs 64,900 to Rs 79,900. The iPhone Air base price went from Rs 1,19,900 to Rs 1,49,900. Reuters put the 1 TB Air at Rs 2,24,900, a 41 per cent jump. The iPhone 16, already an older chipset, rose to Rs 89,900 on some lists.

The new foldable is priced as a luxury object. CNBC-TV18 reported the Duo at Rs 2,99,900 for 256 GB, Rs 3,24,900 for 512 GB, Rs 3,74,900 for 1 TB and Rs 4,49,900 for 2 TB. Business Standard described a 7.6-inch inner display, a 5.4-inch outer display, an A20 Pro chip and a dual 48-megapixel camera. Counterpoint told the same outlets it expects a 20 per cent import duty because Apple does not assemble the Duo in India.

The 18 Pro Max starts at Rs 1,79,900 for 256 GB and reaches Rs 3,29,900 for 2 TB, according to CNBC-TV18. Those numbers put the top of the range in a bracket that Indian buyers used to associate with Swiss watches more than with a phone they replace every three years.

Apple does assemble many iPhones in India. That fact has been the company's answer to critics who said the market was only a sales territory. It has not removed 18 per cent GST or the duty on imported components. Those two levies still open a gap between a U.S. sticker and an Indian one. When Cupertino also lifts the local list price instead of cutting last year's model, the gap widens from both ends.

The usual September script is a cut on the outgoing phone and a premium on the new one. This September Apple raised the outgoing phones in India. Social media treated that as a broken habit. The commercial logic is simpler. Demand in India has been strong enough, and the rupee weak enough against a dollar cost base, that the company would rather take margin than chase volume at last year's rupee points.

John Ternus is new in the chief executive chair. The first price list of his tenure in India is therefore a signal about how he will treat the market that Tim Cook spent years courting with assembly plants and retail stores. A 41 per cent jump on an Air configuration is not a courtship number. It is a rationing number. It says the product is for the buyer who will pay, not the buyer Apple hoped to convert from a mid-range Android.

The Duo will be the test of whether foldable hardware can carry a Rs 3 lakh floor. Samsung and others already sell foldables in India at lower prices. Apple is arriving late and expensive. If the Duo sells, the company will keep the floor. If it sits, the next September event will have to explain a different number. Until then the fact that matters for Indian shelves is the one Reuters led with: last year's phones got more expensive the day the new ones appeared.