Our Bureau
New Delhi
Apple is one of the most popular companies in India and one of the leading brands in terms of market shares of smart phone sales in India. It has always been a topic of discussion among iPhone buyers whether it is better for them to buy the phones from India or from Dubai.
Dubai and the United States of America are two of the better options to purchase an iPhone. Most of the time the prices that we hear coming from the USA and Dubai in comparison to prices in India we do not factor in the local taxes. In the USA’s case the taxes vary from state to state whereas in the case of Dubai it is completely different as there is no GST included.
Usually people think it is better to buy apple products from Dubai rather than from India but that might be rather tough on your pocket than you perceive it to be. While some models might be cost saving for you when buying from the middle east there are many disadvantages of buying your iPhone from Dubai.
When we talk about what advantage we can have while buying iPhones from Dubai, we can only focus on the Pro models of the smartphones. The pricing of these pro models in Dubai is lesser in comparison to the product’s pricing in India. For example, in the latest iPhone 16 series the pro model costs Rs. 1.44 lakhs in India whereas it costs AED 5099 (Rs. 1.21 lakhs) in Dubai.
While pro series might be profitable over in the middle east, other models are not and you will get their best prices in India only. This is because Apple allows their authorised retailers in India to provide some discounts on non-pro models. Along with that you will also have to pay import duties on your phone which will only increase its price.
Buying from Dubai will also impact your chances of losing out on bank offers as well as exchange discounts. Not only that but the UAE has policies against video calling which will impact the FaceTime usage in your iPhone. All in all, buying iPhones from Dubai might have more cons than you expect and will only weigh your pockets down in most cases.
