If you have been keeping up with the news today, you must have seen a host of stories talking about the smartphone price hike in India. I know, we are already dealing with a widespread COVID-19 pandemic, along with a 21-day total lockdown, and smartphone sales have been halted. And now, it’s only disappointing to see the increased GST rates for smartphones and its components to go into effect.
To give you some background, India’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, recently announced that GST (goods and services tax) on smartphones will be hiked from 12% to 18% (a steep 50% increase) from 1st April. Phone makers requested the government to rethink the decision, especially after the import duty hike, but in vain. The updated GST rate came into effect today and thus, phone makers had no option but to ramp up the price of their products. They have been rushing to let users know of their revised product prices since this morning.
Most phone makers have officially announced or updated their websites to reflect the new and revised prices, post the GST rate hike. So, we have compiled an extensive list of all smartphones that have seen a price bump — categorized by brands, along with a comparison between old and new prices. Check out the list of increased phone prices right here:
Xiaomi
The retail prices for some of the Redmi phones have already been live on e-commerce websites since Tuesday night. We listed those here, to begin with, but Xiaomi has now updated its official website. So, we’ve compiled a list of new prices for Xiaomi devices:
Note: List updated after the official Mi website was refreshed to include new pricing info on more Redmi phones.
- Redmi Note 9 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 12,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 13,999
- Redmi Note 9 Pro Max
- old price: starts at Rs. 14,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 16,499
- Redmi K20
- old price: starts at Rs. 19,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 21,999
- Redmi K20 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 24,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 26,999
- Redmi Note 8 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 13,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 15,999
- Redmi Note 8
- old price: starts at Rs. 9,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 10,999
- Redmi Note 7 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 9,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 10,999
- Mi A3
- old price: starts at Rs. 11,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 12,999
- Redmi 8
- old price: Rs. 8,199
- new price: Rs. 8,999
- Redmi 8A Dual
- old price: starts at Rs. 6,499
- new price: starts at Rs. 6,999
Poco
- POCO X2 (6+64GB)
- old price: Rs. 15,999
- new price: Rs. 16,999
- POCO X2 (6+128GB)
- old price: Rs. 16,999
- new price: Rs. 17,999
- POCO X2 (8+256GB)
- old price: Rs. 19,999
- new price: Rs. 20,999
- Poco hasn’t announced any increase in Poco F1 prices in India. We will keep an eye out and update you if the prices go up.
Realme
- Realme 6
- old price: starts at Rs. 12,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 13,999
- Realme 6 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 16,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 17,999
- Realme X50 Pro 5G
- old price: starts at Rs. 37,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 39,999
- Realme X2 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 27,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 29,999
- Realme C3
- old price: starts at Rs. 6,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 7,499
- Realme X2
- old price: starts at Rs. 16,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 17,999
- Realme XT
- old price: starts at Rs. 15,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 16,999
- Realme X
- old price: starts at Rs. 16,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 17,999
- Realme 5i or Realme 5
- old price: starts at Rs. 8,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 9,999
- Realme 5s
- old price: starts at Rs. 9,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 10,999
- Realme 5 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 12,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 13,999
Apple
- iPhone 7 (32GB)
- old price: Rs. 29,900
- new price: Rs. 31,500
- iPhone 7 (128GB)
- old price: Rs. 34,900
- new price: Rs. 36,700
- iPhone 7 Plus (32GB)
- old price: Rs. 37,900
- new price: Rs. 39,900
- iPhone 7 Plus (128GB)
- old price: Rs. 42,900
- new price: Rs. 45,100
- iPhone 8 (64GB)
- old price: Rs. 40,500
- new price: Rs. 42,600
- iPhone 8 (128GB)
- old price: Rs. 45,500
- new price: Rs. 47,900
- iPhone 8 Plus (64GB)
- old price: Rs. 50,600
- new price: Rs. 53,300
- iPhone 8 Plus (128GB)
- old price: Rs. 55,600
- new price: Rs. 58,500
- iPhone XR (64GB)
- old price: Rs. 49,900
- new price: Rs. 52,500
- iPhone XR (128GB)
- old price: Rs. 54,900
- new price: Rs. 57,800
- iPhone XS (64GB)
- old price: Rs. 89,900
- new price: Rs. 94,700
- iPhone XS (256GB)
- old price: Rs. 1,03,900
- new price: Rs. 1,09,400
- iPhone 11 (64GB)
- old price: Rs. 64,900
- new price: Rs. 68,300
- iPhone 11 (128GB)
- old price: Rs. 69,900
- new price: Rs. 73,600
- iPhone 11 (256GB)
- old price: Rs. 79,900
- new price: Rs. 84,100
- iPhone 11 Pro (64GB)
- old price: Rs. 1,01,200
- new price: Rs. 1,06,600
- iPhone 11 Pro (256GB)
- old price: Rs. 1,15,200
- new price: Rs. 1,21,300
- iPhone 11 Pro (512GB)
- old price: Rs. 1,33,200
- new price: Rs. 1,40,300
- iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB)
- old price: Rs. 1,11,200
- new price: Rs. 1,17,100
- iPhone 11 Pro Max (256GB)
- old price: Rs. 1,25,200
- new price: Rs. 1,31,900
- iPhone 11 Pro Max (512GB)
- old price: Rs. 1,43,200
- new price: Rs. 1,50,800
Samsung
- Galaxy S20
- old price: Rs. 66,999
- new price: Rs. 70,500
- Galaxy S20 Plus
- old price: Rs. 73,999
- new price: Rs. 79,900
- Galaxy S20 Ultra
- old price: Rs. 92,999
- new price: Rs. 97,900
- Galaxy Z Flip
- old price: Rs. 1,09,999
- new price: Rs. 1,15,890
- Galaxy Note 10 (8GB+256GB)
- old price: Rs. 69,999
- new price: Rs. 73,600
- Galaxy Note 10 Plus (12GB+256G)
- old price: Rs. 79,999
- new price: Rs. 84,200
- Galaxy Note 10 Plus (12GB+512GB)
- old price: Rs. 89,999
- new price: Rs. 94,700
- Galaxy Note 10 Lite (6GB+128GB)
- old price: Rs. 38,999
- new price: Rs. 41,000
- Galaxy Note 10 Lite (8GB+128GB)
- old price: Rs. 40,999
- new price: Rs. 43,100
- Galaxy S10 Lite (8GB/128GB)
- old price: Rs. 39,999
- new price: Rs. 42,142
- Galaxy S10 Lite (8GB/512GB)
- old price: Rs. 44,999
- new price: Rs. 47,300
- Galaxy A71
- old price: Rs. 29,999
- new price: Rs. 31,500
- Galaxy A51
- old price: Rs. 23,999
- new price: Rs. 25,250
- Galaxy M31
- old price: starts at Rs. 15,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 16,856
- Galaxy M30s
- old price: starts at Rs. 13,999
- new price: starts at Rs. 14,749
- Galaxy M21
- old price: starts at Rs. 13,499
- new price: starts at Rs. 14,222
iQOO
- iQOO 3 4G (8GB+128GB)
- old price: Rs. 36,990
- new price: Rs. 38,990
- iQOO 3 4G (8GB+256GB)
- old price: Rs. 39,990
- new price: Rs. 41,990
- iQOO 3 5G (12GB+256GB)
- old price: Rs. 44,990
- new price: Rs. 46,990
Oppo
- Reno 3 Pro
- old price: Rs. 29,990
- new price: Rs. 31,990
- Reno 2
- old price: Rs. 36,990
- new price: Rs. 38,990
- Reno 2Z
- old price: Rs. 25,990
- new price: Rs. 27,490
- Reno 2F
- old price: Rs. 21,990
- new price: Rs. 23,490
- A9 2020
- old price: Rs. 14,990
- new price: Rs. 15,990
Vivo
- Vivo S1
- old price: starts at Rs. 15,990
- new price: starts at Rs. 17,990
- Vivo S1 Pro
- old price: Rs. 18,990
- new price: Rs. 20,990
- Vivo U10
- old price: starts at Rs. 8,990
- new price: starts at Rs. 9,990
- Vivo U20
- old price: starts at Rs. 10,990
- new price: starts at Rs. 11,990
- Vivo Z1 Pro
- old price: starts at Rs. 12,990
- new price: starts at Rs. 13,990
- Vivo V17
- old price: Rs. 22,990
- new price: Rs. 24,990
So yeah, if you were planning to buy a smartphone after the 21-day lockdown in India came to an end, you will now have to shell out a couple thousand bucks extra for that same device. I know, the tax rate hike is disappointing and a regressive step from the country’s Finance Ministry. Does the price increase affect your plans of buying a new phone or not? Let us know in the comments below.
