The iPhone SE 2022, which was unveiled at Apple’s March 8 ‘Peek Performance’ event, has displaced its 2020 predecessor as iPhone’s most “affordable iPhone”, one with 5G support. The iPhone SE 2022 (or SE 3), which will be available for purchase from tomorrow, starts at Rs 43,900 in India.

The US price of the device is around Rs32,000, more than Rs 10,000 cheaper than in India. Experts suggest that the higher price in India is a combination of high import duty, 18% percent GST, other fees, and Apple’s own profit margin, cheekily referred to as “Apple Tax”.

For iPhones that are not manufactured domestically, the price gap between India and other countries is pretty high. For instance, till 2020, Indians were paying Rs 69,900 for the starting variant of the iPhone 12 mini, compared to Americans, who bought the same device for Rs 51,287 ($699) —  a gap of Rs 18,620 (37 percent). The price gap, however, reduced when the production of the iPhone 12 series started in Chennai.

Even today, Indians pay almost 40 percent extra for several Apple products that are not manufactured in the country. Further, the Apple products that are manufactured (or assembled) in India — like iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 at Chennai’s Foxconn plant, and iPhone SE and iPhone 7 at Bengaluru’s Wistron facility — also attract high taxes due to imported components. The PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) used in iPhones attracts an import duty of 20 percent. Similarly, iPhone chargers also cone with an import duty of 20 percent. Besides import duty, a goods and services tax (GST) of 18 percent — standard for all smartphones — is also levied on Apple products in India.

Additionally, Apple is still dependent on third-party retail networks to sell its smartphones and other products in India. These vendors, distributors, transport agents and other middlemen take a hefty cut, shooting up the price for end consumers.