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iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

indiatoday.in

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Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#71

Post by demarq »

nikhizzle wrote: post #16

The article excludes the cost of import duty, and other taxes (see daedalus's comment). It is a false argument to say that if I didn't pay tax things could be cheaper eg. if I break the law I can get a cheaper iPhone. Getting caught for breaking the law is a stochastic system, but the expected value is lower than most people think. Edit: How far are people willing to take this? Should we share an article saying someo…

personal effects are non taxable across borders in most tax regimes

so legally this is fine

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#72

Post by smabie »

Santosh83 wrote: post #26

I'm sorry but other than brand value, what do Apple products get Indian users that simply cannot be got from other companies? If the price from a trillion dollar company is this costly, then vote with your wallets for god's sake. Simply don't buy. There are (fortunately) plenty of viable alternatives to Apple that are more reasonably priced.

You think Apple wants them to be this expensive? It's 100% the government's fault

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#74

Post by sbmthakur »

brtkdotse wrote: post #21
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #17

I live in New York. Thank God I quit smoking in 1980. A pack of cigarettes in New York costs about $15, in some stores, and no less than $10, outside of the local Native American facilities/reservations. That's almost all taxes.

> That's almost all taxes. I mean, that’s a good thing, right? Smokers should pay for the externalities their habit has on society as a whole.

> I mean, that’s a good thing, right?

Not being specific to NY or the US. This is not good when illegal/fake cigarettes are readily available. With these cigarettes, none of the entities(tobacco farmers, the government, smokers) will benefit from smoking.

https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/alert-you-are-buyi...

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#75

Post by brundolf »

addicted wrote: post #55

I don’t understand the difference in the pricing between the base iPhone and iPhone pro. It’s 50000 Rupees which is about $700, although in the US it’s only $300.

Even $300 is a big premium for what you get. Basically just an extra camera and a LIDAR sensor that nobody knows what to do with yet. Oh, and a shiny stainless-steel band around the edge.

I think what Apple has realized is that a certain subset of their customers will always want the best model, no matter how little sense the price makes compared to the regular model. For some people, it will always be a status symbol (or an enthusiast's obsession). Or they're of the economic class where $300 just doesn't even register on their budget. As one reviewer put it, the 12 Pro is "the shiny one", and for some people that's all it takes.

What this amounts to is that these whales can subsidize things like the $400 SE model, which is an incredible value. And I'm completely fine with that arrangement personally.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#76

Post by vladvasiliu »

nikhizzle wrote: post #16

The article excludes the cost of import duty, and other taxes (see daedalus's comment). It is a false argument to say that if I didn't pay tax things could be cheaper eg. if I break the law I can get a cheaper iPhone. Getting caught for breaking the law is a stochastic system, but the expected value is lower than most people think. Edit: How far are people willing to take this? Should we share an article saying someo…

I don't know what the actual rates are in India, but I remember some 10-15 years ago I bought a bunch of camera gear from the US because it was much cheaper than buying it locally in France.

The delivery was via UPS or Fedex so they handled the customs. In the end, paying VAT and taxes (which were levied on the whole price, including shipping!) it was still cheaper than buying locally.

One of the products was a heavy tripod and head. Another fun fact about this: the tripod was actually made in Italy by an Italian brand...

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#77

Post by breitling »

totalZero wrote: post #68
iso1631 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried declaring a $3k server equipment once at Mumbai airport. Exceptionally difficult to pay the correct amount ($1k or so - it was 7 years ago so amount might be off) and get a receipt, they wanted me to pay $50.

$1k with the receipt, $50 without? Damn what kind of paper is that receipt printed on....

The "without receipt" payment is likely just pocketed by the agent.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#78

Post by perryizgr8 »

knuthsat wrote: post #24

How exactly do you avoid customs when flying back? Electronics is cheaper in US but every time I fly back to Europe they check my bags.

If I'm buying the phone for myself there is no customs. Unless I try to claim that I bought 10 brand new Iphone 12 pros for my personal use...

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#79

Post by reaperducer »

robertlagrant wrote: post #20

> It is no secret that the taxes and duties that are applied to imported phones are highest in India. The taxes are so high that for an important iPhone that you will end up paying an average tax of Rs 24,000 for something like an iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Mini. > However, despite the sky-rocketing prices, iPhone still sells best in India and the buyers give whatever price Apple asks them to pay. So for a business, that…

For the USAians, Rs24000 is $325.78.

By comparison, I paid $92.04 in sales tax for my new iPhone, and I am currently in a geography that is considered low-tax.

Re: iPhone 12 Pro so costly in India, you can fly to Dubai to buy it and save money

#80

Post by ytwySXpMbS »

strawberrypuree wrote: post #64
brtkdotse wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's almost all taxes. I mean, that’s a good thing, right? Smokers should pay for the externalities their habit has on society as a whole.

Cigarette taxes are overwhelmingly paid by the poor, and impact them disproportionately. They do not have a significant impact on the smoking rates (people who would have quit due to the price already have) and there’s no data on how that tax money is spent to offset the externalities. Some info: https://priceonomics.com/how-cigarettes-tax-the-poor/ TL;DR cigarette taxes feel fair to non smokers because it appears to…

Yes, perhaps raising the taxes wouldn't stop more people, but lowering the taxes may encourage more people. One could imagine that having no taxes may make it easier for teenagers to start smoking, for instance.
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