How many months do Indians need to work to buy iPhone Duo?

It took Apple long enough, but the foldable iPhone is finally here. But there is just one small problem: it comes with a price tag that folds your bank balance in half as well.

The iPhone Duo, Apple's book-style foldable with a 7.6-inch inner screen and a titanium body, starts at ₹2,99,900 in India. But if you're the sort of person who needs every gigabyte, the top-of-the-line 2TB version will set you back a cool ₹4,49,900. (That's not a phone. That's a down payment on a Honda City.)

Naturally, this raises a fun (and slightly depressing) question: how long would an average Indian actually have to work to earn that much money?

We ran the numbers using average monthly earnings data, and the answers swing wildly depending on which state you happen to call home. Same phone, completely different reality.

The states where the wait is longest

If you're in Punjab, at the state's average income levels, it would take roughly 27.3 months of work, which is over two years of your life, just to save up for the phone. That's enough time to binge-watch every K-drama in existence, get married, and still have a few weekends left over.

Right behind it is West Bengal at 27.07 months, followed by Chhattisgarh (25.47 months), Tripura (25.18 months), and Uttar Pradesh rounding off the top five at 24.42 months.

In each of these states, buying this particular iPhone isn't really a purchase decision; it's closer to a life goal, filed somewhere between "buy a house" and "buy a foldable phone"

The states where you'd get there fastest

On the flip side, a few small states and Union Territories could get their hands on the Duo in less than a year and a half.

Ladakh leads the pack, where the math works out to roughly 10.7 months. Mizoram isn't far behind at 12.1 months, and Lakshadweep clocks in at 13.8 months. Nagaland (14.47 months) and Arunachal Pradesh (14.5 months) complete this list of relatively speedy savers.

These are largely smaller states and UTs with different income structures and cost-of-living patterns, so the comparison isn't perfectly apples-to-apples (pun very much intended). Still, the gap between the fastest and slowest is over 16 months of difference for the exact same box with the exact same Apple logo on it.

What about the big, populous states?

Zooming into some of India's most populated states that didn't already make either extreme list:

• Bihar: 22.34 months
• Madhya Pradesh: 21.90 months
• Rajasthan: 19.49 months
• Tamil Nadu: 18.90 months
• Maharashtra: 16.56 months

Maharashtra, home to Mumbai's finance crowd and a chunk of India's GDP, still needs over a year and a half to comfortably buy this phone. That alone tells you something about how absurd the pricing on this device really is.

Going by the trend, Keralites would likely need somewhere around 15 to 16 months to save up for the 2TB Duo, comfortably ahead of Tamil Nadu (18.90 months) and roughly in the same league as Maharashtra (16.56 months).

If you start saving around Diwali, and you could plausibly be unboxing your foldable by the time the next Pooram season rolls around.

And the national picture

Averaged out across the country, an Indian worker would need about 19.82 months, just shy of two years, to afford the iPhone Duo in its most loaded configuration.

Basically, if you started saving the month you got engaged, you could probably unbox it around your first wedding anniversary.

(Disclaimer: Income figures referenced are broad state-level averages and meant for illustrative comparison, not precise financial planning. Your actual mileage and savings timeline will vary)