The ₹1.65 Lakh iPhone Problem: What Else Could Indians Buy With That Money?

An iPhone 18 Pro can cost ₹1,64,900 in India. The upcoming iPhone Duo starts at ₹2,99,900. But what do these numbers actually mean for an ordinary Indian family?

The queues are back.

The excitement is back.

The new iPhone is here.

And Apple has taken the premium-phone game to another level.

The iPhone 18 Pro starts at ₹1,64,900 in India. And if that sounds expensive, wait for the next one.

Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, starts at a stunning ₹2,99,900 for 256GB and goes all the way to ₹4,49,900 for the 2TB version. Pre-orders begin October 16 and sales start October 23.

Nearly ₹3 lakh for a phone.

And you can bet that many Indians will still find a way to buy it.

Not necessarily because they have ₹3 lakh sitting in their bank account.

Because there is always EMI.

₹1.65 lakh = 1,476 litres of petrol

Bengaluru petrol is around ₹111.68 per litre.

At that price, ₹1,64,900 represents approximately:

1,476 litres of petrol.

For someone filling a 40-litre tank twice a month, that’s roughly 18 months of petrol.

One premium smartphone versus a year and a half of fuel.

Suddenly, the phone looks different.

₹1.65 lakh = nearly five years of one person’s average urban food spending

According to India’s official Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2023-24, average urban monthly per-capita food expenditure was ₹2,776.

₹1,64,900 ÷ ₹2,776 = approximately 59 months.

That’s almost five years of average urban food expenditure for one person.

Not a family’s grocery bill.

One person’s average food expenditure.

That’s what ₹1.65 lakh actually represents.

And then comes the ₹3 lakh iPhone

The iPhone Duo changes the conversation completely.

At ₹2,99,900, the base Duo costs almost 1.8 times the iPhone 18 Pro.

And the top 2TB model reaches ₹4,49,900.

Think about that.

₹4.5 lakh for a smartphone.

That is more than many Indians earn in an entire year.

For a family earning ₹50,000 a month, ₹4.5 lakh represents nine months of gross income.

For a ₹1 lakh monthly salary, it’s still 4.5 months of gross income.

And yet, once the price becomes an EMI, the psychological impact changes completely.

₹3 lakh doesn’t sound like ₹3 lakh anymore

Imagine seeing:

iPhone Duo — ₹2,99,900

Your brain says:

“No way.”

Now imagine:

“Starting from ₹8,333 per month.”

Suddenly:

“Maybe.”

That is the magic—and danger—of EMI culture.

The price hasn’t changed.

Only the pain has been divided into smaller pieces.

The next problem: children will want it too

This is where the premium-phone race becomes particularly difficult for middle-class families.

A child sees another student with the latest iPhone.

Then another has a foldable phone.

Then someone is creating Instagram Reels with it.

Someone else is making YouTube videos.

And suddenly the conversation at home becomes:

“Everyone in my class has one.”

Then comes the next argument:

“I need it for studies.”

“I need it for editing.”

“I need it for content creation.”

Sometimes those needs may be genuine.

But a ₹3 lakh phone isn’t automatically necessary just because it has better cameras, a larger screen or better multitasking.

The danger is that parents can end up financing a luxury product because they fear their child will be left behind.

A tragedy that should make every parent stop and think

In August 2026, a tragic incident in Maharashtra showed how dangerous the combination of consumer pressure, family conflict and unaffordable smartphone payments can become.

Reports said 19-year-old Kunal Chandgude went to Khawadya Hill in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar after an argument with his father over an iPhone EMI he could not afford.

Police, firefighters and locals reportedly spent hours trying to persuade him to move away from the edge.

His father went closer in an attempt to save him and fell. His mother subsequently also fell. All three died.

The incident was widely reported as an iPhone-EMI dispute, although it would be wrong to reduce such a complex tragedy to simply “a family didn’t buy an iPhone.”

The lesson isn’t that an iPhone causes tragedy.

The lesson is much bigger:

No phone should ever become more valuable than a family’s financial security—or a human life.

Who can actually afford these phones?

There is nothing wrong with buying an expensive phone if you genuinely have the money.

For a wealthy person with substantial savings and investments, spending ₹1.65 lakh—or even ₹3 lakh—on a phone may have little impact on their financial security.

For successful content creators and YouTubers, the calculation can also be different.

If a phone is genuinely a business tool that helps someone produce content, attract viewers and generate income, the purchase can potentially be treated as part of their business equipment.

But that’s very different from a salaried family stretching its budget because the latest phone has become a status symbol.

The middle-class family gets squeezed from every direction

This is the uncomfortable part.

The family already has:

School fees.

Rent or home EMI.

Car EMI.

Insurance.

Groceries.

Electricity.

Fuel.

Medical expenses.

Subscriptions.

Credit-card payments.

Then the child wants the latest phone.

Then the parents upgrade.

Then the smartwatch arrives.

Then AirPods.

Then another device.

Every individual purchase may look manageable.

Together, they can become a financial trap.

And the worst part?

Nobody feels rich while buying them.

They just feel like they are keeping up.

The real question isn’t “Can I pay the EMI?”

That’s the question the modern consumer economy wants you to ask.

Instead ask:

“Could I buy this phone today with my savings without damaging my financial security?”

If the answer is no, perhaps the EMI isn’t making the phone affordable.

Perhaps it is simply making the debt easier to swallow.

The iPhone 18 Pro costs ₹1.65 lakh.

The iPhone Duo starts at ₹2.99 lakh.

The top Duo reaches ₹4.5 lakh.

These are extraordinary amounts for a device that will eventually be replaced by another device.

So before joining the queue, perhaps ask yourself one brutally simple question:

Do I need the phone—or do I need everyone else to think I can afford it?

Because the most expensive thing about the latest iPhone may not be the phone itself.

It may be the pressure to keep upgrading.

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