Apple has hiked by nearly a fifth the cost of its flagship iPhone phone in Japan, which is battling a weakening yen currency and rising inflation.
The Cupertino, California-based manufacturer’s entry level iPhone 13 now costs JPY 117,800 (roughly Rs. 69,000), Apple’s website showed, compared to JPY 99,800 (roughly Rs. 58,500) previously.
With the dollar up 18 percent against the yen year-to-date, the higher cost of the iPhone, which dominates Japan’s smartphone market, comes as consumers’ wallets are being squeezed by price hikes for daily necessities.
Such widespread hikes are a change for most Japanese following years of stable prices for many products.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company topped a list of the global best-selling smartphones for April, according to a report from Counterpoint research released earlier this month. The iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 12 were the top four best-selling smartphones in the world in April.
According to the report, the iPhone 13 had 5.5 percent of the global market share, while the company’s most expensive model — the iPhone 13 Pro Max — was in second place with a 3.4 percent global market share. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 12 captured 1.8 and 1.6 percent share of the market, respectively. Meanwhile, the iPhone SE 2022 was in seventh place with 1.4 percent of global smartphone sales — capturing 18 percent of Japan’s smartphone market share.
Later this year, Apple is expected to launch four iPhone 14 models — two Pro models that are codenamed D73 and D74, and two non-Pro models with codenames D27 and D28 — according to a report.
The high-end iPhone 14 Pro models are tipped to get an improved front-facing camera, a new rear-camera system with a 48-megapixel sensor, thinner bezels, an A16 chip, and a pill-shaped cutout for Face ID and a hole punch for the camera, while the non-Pro iPhone 14 models are said to come with the A15 chip that powers the iPhone 13.
