Apple Extends Discounts on USB-C Adapters and Accessories Until March 31

[MacRumors]

Last month, Apple dropped the price on all of its USB-C adapters and accessories by $6 to $20 until December 31. Today, it has extended that discount until March 31, 2017 for many of the products.

A full list of prices on the adapters in the United States is below:

- USB-C to USB Adapter - Was $19, now $9
- Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter - Was $49, now $29
- USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter - Was $69, now $49
- USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter - Was $69, now $49
- USB-C to Lightning Cable (1m) - Was $25, now $19
- USB-C to Lightning Cable (2m) - Was $35, now $29

The discounts may please customers who have been dissatisfied with the high price of the MacBook Pro, coupled with the need to buy a wide range of adapters to use the new notebook with older peripherals.

Apple:

"We recognize that many users, especially pros, rely on legacy connectors to get work done today and they face a transition. We want to help them move to the latest technology and peripherals, as well as accelerate the growth of this new ecosystem. Through the end of the year, we are reducing prices on all USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 peripherals we sell, as well as the prices on Apple's USB-C adapters and cables."

Apple similarly extended its discount on the now-available LG UltraFine 5K Display until March 31.


Article Link: Apple Extends Discounts on USB-C Adapters and Accessories Until March 31

 

[Appleaker]

Of course they did. It'll probably be extended again in March. I'm surprised they have announced a permanent reduction.

 

[crash013]

Of course they did. It'll probably be extended again in March. I'm surprised they have announced a permanent reduction.

It's only been extended because the 5k display wasn't available to purchase for so long so might as well extend it for everything. It probably won't be permanent.

 

[ike1707]

It would be a lot classier to just make those official price points

 

[dannyyankou]

How generous of them

 

[dantastic]

Dangle the dongels

 

[adamjackson]

This is a great move. Early adopters are being asked to consider upgrading to a notebook that's $300+ more expensive than the model it replaces and on top of that, those same users need to purchase USB-C Docks, Dongles & Displays so they can do the work they did the previous day on a machine with arguably more diverse I/O (in the form of unique ports for HDMI, DVI, USB, SD, etc).

Decreasing the pain a bit but dropping prices on essential accessories is a great move. Eventually, the 3PP makers will release USB-C accessories that are reliable and lower cost than Apple's but for now, this should help anyone in the market for a new MacBook Pro bite the bullet w/o the added pain of spending an extra grand on things that work with the new computer.

This transition is a painful one for people who need a new laptop right now but Apple seems to be considerate of that. They don't have to offer discounts. In fact, they rarely discount their accessories.

 

[shaunymac]

It would be a lot classier to just make those official price points

Ditto. I do remember not having many apple FireWire cables for a reason though...

 

[69Mustang]

It would be a lot classier to just make those official price points

I honestly think they will. The "sale prices" just creates a sense of urgency to get people to buy them before the prices goes up again. They won't go up. They could, but it would shock the hell out of me.

 

[Traverse]

Hope they announce new iMacs by then so I can take advantage if these cheaper accessories.

 

[adamjackson]

I wonder how Apple will handle the next iPhone? Will they include a USB-C to USB-A Adapter in the box along with the USB-A to Lightning cable?

Even if by then all of Apple's computers have a USB-C port, the amount of iPhone buyers with USB-C only will still be single digits. Most of them won't also have the most current Macintosh hardware.

 

[iMi]

Apple's philosophy.

We created a very expensive computer that can't really connect to anything. It's the "future," you know. Don't worry! We will sell you these outrageously priced dongles. What? Not happy? Ok, look... we will sell them to you at discounted but still ridiculously high prices for a limited time. We'll return to gauge you with outrageously priced dongles by March when you are too tiered to be angry at us. You're welcome!

 

[moep]

Next stop Macbook Pro discounts. That would be rather telling.

 

[LordQ]

Do you guys think future iOS devices will come with a USB-C to Lightning cable?

 

[thatanonymoususer]

Apple tends to give a design update and then an internals update the next year everywhere from their laptops to iPhones to the watch.

2006->2007(Titanium update):
CPU: Core Duo (32-bit) -> Core 2 Duo (64-bit)
Max RAM: 2GB -> 6GB
GPU: ATI -> NVIDIA
CD: 4x->8x SuperDrive

2009->2010 (unibody update):
CPU: Core 2 Duo -> i5/i7
GPU: GeForce 9600M -> GeForce 330M

2012->2013 (retina update):
Wifi: n -> ac
SSD: SATA -> PCIE
GPU: 650m (1GB) (2650x1600) -> 750M (2GB) (4k)

I would expect this to be the usual lackluster design update before the actual internals update coming next year.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

It's very nice of them. No one (not Microsoft, not Dell, not HP, not Compaq) offered adaptors or cables at any type of discount when USB first rolled out in the late '90s. We all had to buy $40-60 adaptors to make printers, CD burners, and other peripheral work with our new machines.

 

[doelcm82]

Next stop Macbook Pro discounts. That would be rather telling.

It certainly would. No discounts would also be telling.

Exactly what it would be telling would be the next question.

In fact, everything Apple does leads to disagreement over what it means. If they raise prices it must be because they are greedy. If they lower prices it must be because they are greedy. Or is it the customer who is greedy, always wanting more for less money?

 

[Z400Racer37]

How a bout a friggin MagSafe adapter?

 

[lincolntran]

This is pretty generous from Apple, though I suspect they still make a profit on it but still....they choose to lower the price.

They're willing to be the first mover on new tech and willing to take a hit for it while other companies are just sitting on old tech and wait until it's safe.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Do you guys think future iOS devices will come with a USB-C to Lightning cable?

Not for quite a while. Remember that a large portion of those that purchase iPhones aren't Mac users. The majority of iOS device users don't have a new machine with USB-C (it's still very uncommon on the PC side and only 2 Macs currently offer it).

They'll continue to include a standard USB Lightning cable for some time until the majority of the market moves to USB-C, likely in a few years time.

 

[Parasprite]

Apple (2007):

Apple (2017): "Think Dongles"

 

[2457282]

I honestly think they will. The "sale prices" just creates a sense of urgency to get people to buy them before the prices goes up again. They won't go up. They could, but it would shock the hell out of me.

Apple is interested in getting people to move to new technology, especially USB-C. I could see them holding the price until the next set of peripherals and computers come out. Then they will raise the price to incent people to just buy the new stuff instead of stubbornly holding on to the old stuff.

Frankly as an IT guy, we discourage people having local drives and peripherals. We prefer our teams to connect to the network and maintain their work related stuff on the Server. We can control that and ensure we have failover and off-site backups. For me, I dock my laptop at work but do not connect anything to the laptop directly. The dock has a network connection, two monitors, a keyboard, a mouse, and a power cord connected. At home there are exactly 1 cable sometimes connected - the power cord. This affords me the maximum flexibility and mobility. All this is to restate what apple has said.

We want to help them move to the latest technology and peripherals, as well as accelerate the growth of this new ecosystem.

 

[MH01]

Geez the original prices are crazy, I suspect apple knew they messed up the pricing and will reduce the price to the "sales" price.
[doublepost=1482256626][/doublepost]

Apple (2007):

Apple (2017): "Think Dongles"

I'd have have a sarcastic comeback to that.....but my Mac Pro 2013 looks worse than that Dell....well played

 

[Cougarcat]

USB C/TB3-only iMacs, coming first week of April...

 

[vpro]

Looks like no discounts for Canadian Pro's