Apple on Monday launched the iPhone 16 in Cupertino, California. It has many improvements, even though there are very few changes in the design. The iPhone 16 has an A18 chipset to power Apple intelligence, an action button, camera control buttons, an improved camera system and more. But let’s not talk about the upgrades for now. Instead, take a look at the iPhone 16 price in India. This is a big surprise as the iPhone 16 is that rare product that has become cheaper than the price Apple charged for the iPhone in 2020.

Surprised? Let us explain. The base model of the latest iPhone — in this case the iPhone 16 with 128GB of storage — starts at just Rs 79,900 in India. This is the same price at which Apple launched the iPhone 12 in India. And that phone only had 64GB of storage. But let’s leave the storage part aside for now. Instead, look at this most important figure — Rs 79,900.

You see there are few constant things in life. Taxes. And death. And if you ask any economist, they will say the same thing – inflation. Things always get more expensive over time, their price always goes up. The money you spend to buy 1 kg of onions today will be less than what you will spend 3 years later. It is the same for almost everything you can buy with money. Money itself loses its value. This is why we have seen a rise in the prices of other smartphones in India. Be it OnePlus or Samsung or Google, everyone has increased the prices of their phones year after year.

But Apple won’t do that and it will defy inflation and actually make it cheaper to buy an iPhone in 2024 than in 2020.

You see, inflation in India has averaged 6 per cent per year over the last four years. This means that if the price of the iPhone had remained constant at Rs 79,900, it would have become cheaper in real terms due to inflation. To put this in perspective, if Apple was following inflation and matching the prices of its phones to take advantage of the inflationary trend, the iPhone 16 should have been priced at around Rs 1,05,000.

So, why and how is Apple doing this? We don’t really know the answer. However, we do know that Apple doesn’t like to raise prices frequently. The iPhone has been at $799 for a while now, even globally. We also know that the company makes a pretty good margin on the products it sells. So this could certainly ease the year-on-year inflationary pressure a bit.

But there might be another factor when it comes to the base iPhone in India. In 2020, Apple had just started thinking about making iPhones in India. Until then, the company was bringing phones from China, and that means it was probably paying some taxes and duties that would be a factor in the price of the iPhone in India. But after 2020, the company has started making iPhones here and that has probably reduced some costs. This cost reduction has probably helped Apple keep its margins healthy and absorb inflationary pressures as well.

Whatever the reasons, the good news for iPhone fans in India is that the iPhone 16 is now more affordable than many other high-end phones in India.

iPhone 16 Pro price cut

Another reason why we think Make in India may have played a role in keeping the iPhone price relatively stable in India is the interesting case of the iPhone 16 Pro. Compared to the iPhone 15 Pro, this phone has a starting price of Rs 15,000 less. Such a price reduction is huge.

The starting price of iPhone 15 Pro is Rs 1,34,900, while the starting price of iPhone 16 Pro is Rs 1,19,900. Similarly, the starting price of iPhone 16 Pro Max is Rs 1,44,900, which is Rs 15,000 less than the starting price of iPhone 15 Pro Max.

And the year 2024 is the year when Apple will sell Made in India iPhone Pro. It cannot be a coincidence that the year the company starts making Pro iPhones in India, its price will also be reduced significantly.