Eggs are up 20% just like iPhone, then why are Indians crying so much about Apple

Yesterday morning I ran into my neighbour. Let’s call him Sharma Ji. He is the proverbial Sharma Ji ka beta. We nodded our heads to each other. Just when we were about to go our different ways, Sharma Ji paused. He was doing calculations throughout the morning and needed to vent it all out. Because it was the morning after, that morning when last night’s Apple iPhone launch was stuck in the mind of Sharma Ji. He was still wondering what Apple cooked and wasn’t liking the taste at all.

Sharma Ji knew of my tech credentials. I must have felt like a reasonable choice on whom he could unload his calculations. He started with ma ki and behen ki, in the way that is unique to people of Delhi, before moving on to the matter at heart — the iPhone 18 Pro prices in India. I listened and Sharma Ji cooked Apple, spitting and roasting it with a vigour which told me he did not yet know that Tim Cook was no longer the CEO of Apple. After a few minutes, with everything out and Sharma Ji relieved, he added gently, “this year the iPhone is not for me.”

Sharma Ji is hardly alone. Since Wednesday night, affluent-but-not-rich Indians are crying horse over the Apple that seems to have bolted out of the reach. The iPhone 18 Pro comes in at a starting price of Rs 164,900, which is more than the monthly salary — before tax — of the Thar boi. And that is just the beginning. Apple has done Indians Pro Max, they say. Their dua has been answered with Rs 3 lakh Duo, they say. A fate where their dua, made with folded hands, was not answered would have been better than this, they say. Sadly, the dua has been answered. Duo is here and Apple seeks to claim Pro Max dues for it, no concessions.

That is because we live in 2026, the year of inflation. The iPhone buying junta can bull all that it wants. But the fact remains. We live in 2026. You can’t bull your way out of it. You can only bear it, like how Sensex is doing it all these few months. There is just no use skewering Apple or lamenting whatever it cooked.

Everything is expensive in 2026. Take the example of eggs. On Wednesday night when Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro, it also announced the price hike on the older phones. Across the lineup the iPhone inflation is very real and very measurable. It is around 20 per cent.

Guess what else is up 20 per cent this year? Eggs! They too are 20 per cent up in the last six months. There are forces at work which are making the world a more expensive place. Sometimes Sharma Ji ka ladka realises it, like he did in the case of the iPhone, sometimes, for example while ordering eggs on Blinkit, he doesn’t.

That price increase doesn’t pinch the aspirations of India that only lives in South Delhi the way the iPhone price increase does. The 20 per cent rise in the iPhone price kills the Apple dream. The 20 per cent price rise in a tray of eggs barely registers, more so when the payment is made through a quick swipe in an app.

But essentially the price increase is the same. It is in the same ballpark. The iPhones have become expensive this year, so have other phones, including Androids. The same is the case with laptops. Ditto for any gadget. Food items are more expensive, or their portions have slimmed down. Eating out is more expensive. That cinema hall ticket, and with it the mandatory tub of greasy popcorn, is more expensive. The whey protein that iPhone bros chug by a litre-a-day too has seen a sharp rise in its prices. Milk is expensive. And so are vegetables and fruits.

We live in the time of inflation. The reasons for that are many. But this piece is not about that. It is about the reality that Apple has brought home, even if on Wednesday night it launched no HomePod. It is about the fact that the days of the affordable iPhone in India are over, at least for a couple of years or so.

There was a time when the iPhone was something that was out of reach for most people in India, except for those who had an uncle living in New Jersey and an aunty in London. Then Tim Cook-ed and did his supply chain magic, and combined with the way the world was, it resulted in those mind-blowing iPhone deals in the Big Billion Days. Now those days are over because Apple has to save its billions in the face of rising costs. The iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone Duo are the new realities. The screen of Pro is stretched to the Max and the Duo can be bent and folded, but get this straight: In this new reality, the prices will not bend. This year you should get ready to pay more, much more, not just for the iPhone but for everything.- EndsPublished By: Divya BhatiPublished On: Sep 11, 2026 13:51 ISTAlso Read | Apple iPhone 18 Pro is pricey, yet it's iPhone 17 price hike that may pinch IndiansAlso Read | iPhone Duo is unique and expensive, here are 5 features that make it soAlso Read | Apple launched 5 products last night including iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro: All India prices