Apple, Xiaomi, and Realme increase smartphone prices as government hikes GST

By Xite - April 2, 2020
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Apple, Xiaomi and Realme have announced a hike in the price of their smartphone after the government increased the Goods and Services Tax from 12 per cent to 18 per cent in a GST Council, headed by Fi....

Smartphone manufacturers like Apple, Xiaomi, and Realme have announced that they have increased the prices of their handsets in the wake of a 50 per cent Goods and services tax (GST) hike – from 12 per cent to 18 per cent – in the country. It is expected that other OEMs will also increase the prices of their devices. GST collections for March was Rs 97,597 crore, which falls way short of the Rs 1.15 lakh crore target set by the government.

Apple said that it is increasing prices of its iPhones by 5 per cent. Apple iPhone 11 (64GB), which was earlier priced at Rs 64,900, will now cost Rs 68,300. To purchase the iPhone XR (64GB), customers will now have to pay Rs 52,500. Earlier, it was available for Rs 49,900. The iPhone 11 Pro (64 GB) will be available for Rs 106,600 (priced Rs 101,200 previously), and the iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB) is now priced at Rs 117,100. The iPhone 7 (32GB) is now priced at Rs 31,500.

 

 

Top smartphone brand in India, Xiaomi, has also announced a price hike. Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain tweeted about the price hike. While he did not mention the percentage of increase in prices but reiterated the company’s policy of maintaining less than 5 per cent margin on hardware products. ‘After much deliberation & in keeping with #Xiaomi policy of maintaining <5% margin on our hardware products, we will be increasing prices of our products. New prices will be effective immediately. Thank you,’ Jain said.

Its Chinese counterpart Realme also increased the prices of its smartphones. Realme 6 (4GB+64GB) model will now be available for Rs 13,999 (Rs 1,000 hike). Realme X2 (4GB+64GB), which was priced at Rs 16,999 will now be available for Rs 17,999. Realme XT (4GB+64GB) can now be purchased for Rs 16,999.

We will update this story when we hear from other companies.

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  • Apple
  • XIaomi
  • Realme
  • GST