Wow, you are truly EMBARRASSING yourself even MORE.
Read the post above you or perhaps follow the thread a little more closely as your stolen "argument" (from "haruhiko") has already been DEBUNKED.
Plus who do you think you're FOOLING? You're trying to CHANGE your argument so to not look like such a fool and yet you actually are looking MORE like a fool by doing so.
This is EXACTLY what you wrote which I replied to:
Yes, I did EXACTLY that, showing you LINKS from the Apple WEBSITES (HK and US) which showed you were WRONG.
And not only did you NOT mention Hong Kong having no "sales tax" in your post (which is something I BROUGHT UP in my original post), but sales taxes are NOT listed on Apple's website either, which directly CONTRADICTS your "revised" argument.
Nice job buddy!
AND please tell me, in WHICH US state are the state AND local SALES TAXES COMBINED at least 12.3%?
Because that's the MINIMUM they would NEED to be for the unlocked iPhone 5 in the US being priced at USD$649 to be even the SAME price as it would be in Hong Kong, which is the equivalent of USD$729.03, much less be MORE EXPENSIVE like YOU CLAIM.
I tell you which US state has combined state and local sales taxes at 12.3% or higher - NO US STATE!
The HIGHEST applicable sales taxes in the US for the iPhone 5 would be in Illnois, which combined MAX state and local sales taxes would be 11.5%. Even with these sales taxes, buying the iPhone in the US would STILL be LESS EXPENSIVE than purchasing it in Hong Kong.
Now if one bought their iPhone 5 in New Hampshire, which has ZERO sales taxes for BOTH state AND local, then the iPhone 5 would cost USD$80 LESS than it would in Hong Kong!
Good one buddy!
So not ONLY did you try to CHANGE your "argument", but the "argument" you changed to is STILL WRONG!!!
And despite all this, it STILL doesn't address the original point I was making, which is about Apple's PROFIT MARGIN in Hong Kong versus other countries including the US. Sales taxes DON'T FACTOR in Apple's profit margins because they go to their respective governments where the products were purchased, NOT Apple.