Every new object carries a price, and that price is quietly shaped by the place where it is sold. When Apple released its iPhone 12 lineup to the world at once, The Indian Express set out to see how that single product was priced from one border to the next, and found that an identical device could cost markedly different sums depending on which side of a frontier a buyer stood. India, for all its appetite for the phone, emerged among the most expensive places to buy it, while the United States, Hong Kong, Japan and the UAE offered it more cheaply. It is a reminder that simultaneous arrival in
iPhone 12 Costs More in India Than in Hong Kong, Dubai and the US, Regional Price Survey Finds
A Rs 40,895 gap for the same phone
Mark
So what's the headline here? India is the most expensive place to buy the iPhone 12?
Mimi
That's what the survey says. It checked Apple's official sites in 13 regions and found India at or near the top, while the US, Hong Kong, Japan and Dubai were cheapest.
Mark
How big is the gap in practice?
Mimi
For the iPhone 12 Mini with 64GB, Rs 69,900 in India against roughly Rs 56,804 in Hong Kong. For the Pro Max with 128GB, it's Rs 129,900 against Rs 89,005, a difference of Rs 40,895.
Luke
Worth noting those Hong Kong and Dubai rupee figures are conversions. The article doesn't say which exchange rate it used or on what date.
Mark
Does the US comparison hold up once tax is counted?
Mimi
The article says US prices exclude sales tax, but that even with tax added, the US is still cheaper.
Luke
It says that, but gives no figure. We don't see the US dollar prices or the tax rate it assumed, so that part is asserted rather than shown.
Mark
And Europe?
Mimi
Pricier than the US, but less than India. The UK base iPhone 12 is 799 pounds, about Rs 75,905, versus Rs 79,900 in India.
Luke
Also, these are list prices. Discounts, bank offers and trade-ins in India could shrink the real gap, and the survey doesn't cover that. Nor does it explain why Apple prices as it does.
Mimi
Right. It only notes that high prices outside the US and Japan are an old pattern, and that demand in India stays strong.
O Pulso
- A base iPhone 12 Mini costs more than Rs 13,000 extra in India than in Hong Kong, and the gap sharpens to over Rs 40,000 at the top of the range.
- India's launch arrives in step with the rest of the world for the first time, yet buyers there are left facing some of the steepest tags on the survey.
- The United States stays cheapest even after sales tax is considered, leaving the most price-sensitive buyers looking abroad for the lowest figure.
- Pre-orders open October 23 and shelves fill later in the month, so the real transaction will be decided by discounts, bank offers and trade-ins that this list-price survey cannot see.
Every new object carries a price, and that price is quietly shaped by the place where it is sold. When Apple released its iPhone 12 lineup to the world at once, The Indian Express set out to see how that single product was priced from one border to the next, and found that an identical device could cost markedly different sums depending on which side of a frontier a buyer stood. India, for all its appetite for the phone, emerged among the most expensive places to buy it, while the United States, Hong Kong, Japan and the UAE offered it more cheaply. It is a reminder that simultaneous arrival in the marketplace does not guarantee equal access to it.
A 64GB iPhone 12 Mini sells for HK$5,999 on Apple's Hong Kong website, roughly Rs 56,804. On Apple's Indian site, the same phone carries a price of Rs 69,900. That gap of more than Rs 13,000 for an identical device is the starkest picture in a price survey The Indian Express conducted across Apple's official websites in 13 regions.
The survey's verdict is that India is among the most expensive places to buy the iPhone 12 lineup, and the single costliest for the newest models by its reckoning. The United States, Hong Kong, Japan and the UAE came out cheapest. The divide is sharpest at the top: the iPhone 12 Pro Max with 128GB is Rs 89,005 in Hong Kong and Rs 129,900 in India.
The launch is unusual for India, which receives Apple's newest iPhone at the same moment as the rest of the world. Pre-orders for the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro open on October 23, with some models reaching shelves later in the month. Europe sits in the middle, with the UK's 64GB model at 799 pounds, around Rs 75,905, against Rs 79,900 in India.
The US figures exclude sales tax, yet even with tax added the American price remains lower. The survey compares list prices only, so discounts, bank offers and trade-ins will ultimately decide what buyers in India actually pay.
A base-model iPhone 12 Mini with 64GB of storage costs HK$5,999 on Apple's Hong Kong website, which comes to roughly Rs 56,804. The same phone, on Apple's Indian site, is priced at Rs 69,900. That gap of more than Rs 13,000 for an identical device is the clearest illustration of what a price survey by The Indian Express found when it looked at how Apple is charging for its newest phones around the world.
The publication collected prices for the four iPhone 12 models from Apple's official websites in 13 regions. Its conclusion was that India remains one of the most expensive places to buy the lineup, and by its account the single most expensive country for the newest models. The United States, Hong Kong, Japan and the UAE, with Dubai as the reference point, came out as the cheapest.
The top of the range shows the difference most sharply. The iPhone 12 Pro Max with 128GB costs Rs 89,005 if bought from Hong Kong. In India the same model is priced at Rs 129,900, a difference of Rs 40,895. In Dubai, the iPhone 12 with 64GB is listed at AED 2,999, or about Rs 59,964.
The context is a launch that is unusual for India. For the first time, Apple's newest iPhone is arriving in India at the same time as in the rest of the world. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro can be pre-ordered from October 23, and some models begin reaching retail shelves later in the month. Simultaneous availability has not translated into similar pricing, however.
The United States is the cheapest market in the survey, though the survey notes that American prices are listed without sales tax. Adding sales tax does not change the ranking: even with tax included, the iPhone 12 still costs less in the US than elsewhere in the comparison.
Europe sits in the middle. In France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK, the iPhone 12 is priced on the higher side, but the survey says the phone is not as steeply priced there as in India. In the UK, the 64GB iPhone 12 costs 799 pounds, around Rs 75,905. An Indian buyer pays Rs 79,900 for the equivalent base model.
The article points out that higher iPhone prices outside the US and Japan are not new, and that many Apple devices cost less in those two countries. It also notes that demand for iPhones in India stays heavy in a country of 130 crore people.
The survey compares list prices on Apple's own sites, so it does not capture retailer discounts, bank offers or trade-in deals that may apply once sales begin. Those will determine what buyers in India actually pay when the phones reach shelves later this month.
Citações Notáveis
The US remains the cheapest place to buy the iPhone 12, and it stays cheaper even after sales tax is included.— The Indian Express price survey
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