Apple Hikes iPad Mini Prices Outside US, With Europe Faring Worst

[MajorFubar]

GBP and euro have experienced a 20% drop in value compared to last year. It’s no mystery why Apple raised prices there.

Where were you all with that reasoning when 1GBP bought nearly $1.50 and all Apple did mostly was swap the $ for a £?

It's just money grabbing profiteering. But it won't work. Apple devices are already a dying market over here. The tablet market was pretty much all they had an unshakeable hold on. This is where cheaper Android devices will just sweep that hold away.

 

[dannys1]

So are Argos and John Lewis selling the devices cheaper on eBay then in their stores? I’m struggling to see where the big savings are you claim.

I just said Deecies are selling build to order Mac configurations for about £500 less (depending how high you spec it) than Apple direct. Usually most official resellers are cheaper than Apple, you've got Jigsaw, MCC, KRCS. Deecies is usually cheaper than those unless they have a special offer on - plus you've got eBay vouchers quite often for more off, cashback from Quidco and you can use Nectar points. I'd rather buy on eBay than a sellers own website as the seller is held to higher standards on eBay due to feedback and the buyer having ever protection under the sun.

 

[dannys1]

Where were you all with that reasoning when 1GBP bought nearly $1.50 and all Apple did mostly was swap the $ for a £?

It's just money grabbing profiteering. But it won't work. Apple devices are already a dying market over here. The tablet market was pretty much all they had an unshakeable hold on. This is where cheaper Android devices will just sweep that hold away.

This IS the reason and the $ was never on par with £ because the USD price doesn't include sales tax where as the GBP price always includes 20% VAT.

 

[Bubble99]

It would be nice if Apple can also let the consumers know why there is such a massive increase in price.

Well Europe is in major economic recession and major energy criss. Many don't know if they have enough energy to heat their homes in the winter or rolling black outs. Well the US and Canada energy problem is nothing compared to Europe.

It does not help both liberals and conservatives in those countries dismantled their power stations to import from Russia.

Well think tanks in universities telling students the hay days of protectionism and nationalism is over and globalization won and cannot be stop is the future. Well Russia causing energy prices to go way up and China and Taiwan thing is causing US having paranoid episodes.

If you give money to a street gang and that gang does not give you money back what do you think is going to happen. But the think tanks like the CIA, NSA, joint chiefs, secretary of defence and generals sitting around the round table never wrote letter to the president and congress that trade and offshoring to China would destroy the US. If China goes to war in Taiwan or just shuts down all their factories for year or two the US is in a depression not recession over night.

Also there has been slow done by TSMC by one year. Microsoft just came out with new Microsoft surface and is still rocking with 128 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM of starting price.

If you look at other tablets and really thin ultra netbooks yes $1,000 and still rocking with 128 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM of starting price. So there is SSD and RAM slow down with tablets and thin netbooks with covid and shipping problems and now economic problems.

​

 

[osmar.rodriguez]

Well, here in euro zone countries we are dealing with that since the announcement of new iPhones. After that Apple increases the price of all accessories (AirTags, cases, etc), Apple Watches, and AirPods. Now with iPads they are just closing the circle.

 

[joelhinch]

11% price rise. Bye bye sales. Does apple think people’s wages have gone up? Cost of living is through the roof. Supply chain demand has improved. This is a dumb move.

 

[Kirkster]

This IS the reason and the $ was never on par with £ because the USD price doesn't include sales tax where as the GBP price always includes 20% VAT.

It’s like people don’t understand that companies don’t pay that VAT. In the US the sales prices are exclusive of Tax. So if you take that list price in dollars, add 20% VAT (May also have to factor in import fees as well depending on the country) then factor in the currency difference. Things get more expensive, sometimes lots more expensive.

 

[CJM]

I wonder how it works on a corporate level, does Apple Ireland buy all their product from the corporate entity that is Apple US? Yes, the dollar is strong but the direct conversions have always been off. Even accounting for tax.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Here in Finland I was in my local Apple Reseller this morning and asked if they were still selling the iPad 9. The fellow checked and his response was no. Whatever stock they have is on hold until they process the price increase. He was shaking his head in dismay and said that he is anticipating a lot of push back from potential customers and lost sales on all Apple products.

 

[lordhamster]

Apple have enough money in the bank to not do this, and make their products as democratised as possible.

It's pretty disgusting tbh what we're witnessing at the moment, everywhere, but Apple are really pushing it with their rises at any opportunity.

Probably why they released now to create these adjustments.

Oh my sweet summer child!

Apple is not in business to provide you with the cheapest possible Netflix & internet browsing device. They are in business for their shareholders.

“Democratized” hahahaha!

 

[aperantos]

How's that USB-C mandate working out for you?

What port does the iPad mini have outside of Europe, because mine has a USB-C port and I just assumed that was the same everywhere.

I wanted to get the new mini when it was announced last year as my old one was a few revisions old but had a very cracked screen (fell out of a bag, screen opened, face down into a gravel driveway!) and the cost of replacing screen units now means it makes more sense to upgrade. But the price was at least £100 too high, so I continued with the dodgy screen.

But every now and then I would look at the price on Amazon, and in August they had a discount on the 256GB cellular space grey model of £140. Only that combination and with no obvious reason for a saving of around 20%, but it was the size and connectivity I wanted, and I had no problem with that colour.

So I bought it, for £619. Right now it is undiscounted at £759 on Amazon, but £929 on the Apple Store.

I am feeling so lucky today because as much as I do not like the Android experience, at the new price I would have had no option but to switch. My old iPad did not seem to have had long left in it. And for me the size of the mini is important so I would not consider a larger one no matter how much more affordable one may be.

For all the economic arguments about exchange rates etc., there comes a point where a price is just too high for a market. While there are things I wish it had . I love my iPad mini, it is a great product. Yet £929 is a ridiculous price for it, and surely the impact on sales will have a greater effect on the overall profitability of the product than cutting into the sales margin?

 

[Bubble99]

How's that USB-C mandate working out for you?

It creates a paradox bubble over many other companies of want the aristocracy and peasant don't seem to understand is capitalism strives for proprietary not open source universal standards and this not just computers but vehicles and every thing made.

And capitalism rule 2 a void market will not open up to solve problem with out government and what Adam Smith says . In other words if I don’t like what Apple is doing with the iPhone I really only have Android. There is not 5 to 10 companies to choose from or new market open to capitalize on problem because initial starting price requires hundreds of millions dollars. And this why Linux does not go any where or companies like purism or system76 out side of hobbyists and sub set of programmers.

Is the EU going to ban Ford proprietary part from not being able to swap a part from say GM or Toyota. And even a ford 2010 proprietary part vs 2017 ford part where you have buy the 2017 ford part.

Dell and many other companies do same thing with their motherboard, cases and power supplies.

The government should of just bought a company like system76 than pick some thing like JingOS and hire hundreds of programmers to polish it up than make app store and hire hundreds of hundreds of programmers to make high quality apps.

Also hire hundreds of hardware engineers to make hardware like a phone and tablet and teach every kid in school how to use it and than run ads and set up store all requiring billions of dollars by the government than sale the company.

This is such undertaking that even Dell,Lenov, and HP and other big companies don't even try to get into. The initial starting price requires hundreds of millions of dollars just to get started and probably not compete with Apple with out billions of dollars.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

it's simply not worth it anymore.

It never was IMO, it should have been 100 bucks less to begin with and equally less in other currencies.

 

[webkit]

I remember the days when the euro was 80% more worth than the dollar and the prices weren't lowered because of that :')

What year was the euro worth 80% more than the USD??

Apple does price products higher or lower to reflect currency differences.

 

[webkit]

It would be nice if Apple can also let the consumers know why there is such a massive increase in price.

Compared to a year ago, the dollar is around 18% stronger against the euro (hence the 18% price increase in euros) and is around 21% stronger against the British Pound (hence the 19% and 21% increases in pounds).

 

[webkit]

Where were you all with that reasoning when 1GBP bought nearly $1.50 and all Apple did mostly was swap the $ for a £?

It's just money grabbing profiteering. But it won't work. Apple devices are already a dying market over here. The tablet market was pretty much all they had an unshakeable hold on. This is where cheaper Android devices will just sweep that hold away.

Apple has priced products lower overseas when the euro and British pound were strong. A year ago, when the British pound was stronger against the dollar the pre-VAT price of the 64GB iPad mini Wi-Fi was £399 compared to the pre-sales tax price of $499 for same device in the U.S. This year with the stronger U.S. dollar, the pre-VAT price is £474 compared to $499 in the U.S.

It's not a perfect system as Apple doesn't adjust prices as often as currency rates change but they do adjust prices to reflect currency fluctuations.

 

[lordhamster]

All of this was as predictable as the sun rising in the east. While Apple may be seen as "greedy" for not taking one for the team, the fault lies squarely with our governments.

One can debate if these things were necessary or not... ultimately it is irrelevant because the effects were predictable:

• Global, regional, local Lockdowns
• Social Distancing and capacity limits in offices
• Shutdown of global trade routes or significant slowdowns
• Printing and handing out money like candy for the past several years
• Ever-increasing regulatory/compliance burden on businesses
• Reliance on despotic regimes for cheap energy

All of these factors combined to create the perfect storm. Now your buying power has dramatically decreased while inflation is soaring..... yet somehow y'all are surprised that the chickens have come home to roost? Somehow your favorite luxury tech gizmos are meant to be immune to all of this?

Again, I'm not arguing pro or anti any of the covid measures, but there is absolutely no argument about the ripple effects they caused.

 

[dannys1]

It’s like people don’t understand that companies don’t pay that VAT. In the US the sales prices are exclusive of Tax. So if you take that list price in dollars, add 20% VAT (May also have to factor in import fees as well depending on the country) then factor in the currency difference. Things get more expensive, sometimes lots more expensive.

I mean if it was so much cheaper than they think it is - why don't they just buy from the States? The plugs are about £4 on eBay (if you haven't already got many Apple 3pin plugs laying around). Because by the time they've added VAT alone to that US price, faced the poor currency conversion they'll get and possibly even some customs chargers if they're unlucky - and the shipping cost to get it over here, it'll be more expensive than paying even RRP in this country let alone the discounted prices from resellers.

 

[smbu2000]

Why wasn’t Japan the worst? JPY has fallen the most.

They have raised prices in Japan. They raised prices in June and now with the latest releases they’ve raised prices some more.
For example, the base ipad air launched in March for 74,800 ten. Then they increased it to 84,800 yen in June(?). Now it changed again to 92,800 yen. That’s almost a 25% increase from the launch price.

 

[bluecoast]

U.K. inflation has officially gone up to 10.1%, not 20%, these price increases are not justified IMO with the extremes they have gone to.

The iPad Mini really isn't as much of a viable option now, you could kind of justify it before, but like with the IPhone Pro models now starting at 1100 for the 6.1", they are going over a threshold I don't think as many will be happy to pay.
And that's still with jelly scrolling effect.

I guess you could say that apple has priced in further inflation rises in the UK in the next 6 months plus the £ weakening against the dollar further i.e. so they don't have to keep on changing their prices.

They're probably right, sadly enough.

 

[Bubble99]

Apple tends to adjust prices for a whole product range when new models are released, as they did yesterday with the iPads. They have reduced prices in the past in between product updates if the Pound has been exceptionally strong but they usually wait until a product in the range is updated and the Store goes down.

Apple has very high skill of marketing of making your lips wet of wanting to up the next model. Giving you the iPad 10 generation but pricing above 9 generation but you still feel it not iPad air like so you look at air and wow way better but only 64GB SSD than goes up to 256 SSD than you like well if I pay that price I may as well get iPad pro the price is so close.

If Apple had the iPad 10 generation starting price of say basic iPad $320 it would not create the may as well get the iPad air. And if iPad Air starting 128 GB SSD it would not create may as well get the iPad pro.

Apple knows how to market to the price for profit. The slow down trickle down effect over the years of pro features to basic iPad is not only slow but done in a very creative way to make you feel you may as well get the next up iPad model.

And Apple knows how to price SSD for profit and how to remove SSD like 128 GB starting for profit.

 

[Veinticinco]

There's inflation, there's volatile currency exchanges, but then there's blatant shameless opportunistic price gouging.

 

[Lioness~]

Someone is happy for the increased prices.

 

[d686546s]

Honestly, the problem in this debate is that almost conflicting points are all equally true:

1. When you consider inflation and other issues, such as currency exchange rates, not all of this year's prices increases are unreasonable. In the UK, the 9th Gen iPad went from £319 (I think) to £369. With inflation at 10.1% in September that works out to £351.2, which is a far less dramatic. The base iPhone 14 is £849 compared to the iPhone 13's £779, but if you adjust this for current inflation you get £858, so the inflation-adjusted price actually went down (yeah I didn't see that one coming either).
2. That being said, Apple stealthily pushes new products as de-facto base models into higher price points while keeping the older models around at similar or only slightly higher prices. That arguably leaves the entry point untouched, but the price to get the current model went up quite a lot. The 10th Gen iPad starts at £499, so around 40% more expensive than the 9th Gen (yes it's a new product, but that's sort of the point). The new MacBook Air is £1,249, which is a 25% increase over the M1's current price. The same happened with the iPhone 12, when the iPhone 12 Mini went into the iPhone 11's price tier, pushing most people up by £100. It's quite clever.
3. You can't look at these things in isolation. Apple's pricing strategy can both be reasonable when compared to last year and still be ridiculous when compared to wider trends and economic outlook. The fact that something only went up with inflation doesn't really help people who have only read about pay rises in line with inflation in history books and need to absorb above-inflation cost increases in their essential expenditure. We're being told we all need to take a hit, but apparently all excludes corporate profits. Don't be surprised if people perceive massive price hikes during a massive cost of living crisis as obscene.
4. Even if you take the moral argument out of it all, the basic principle is that you can only sell what people are able or willing to buy. In the short run that will simply mean people holding on to what they have longer, it would be weird not to, but long-term this may very well push people over to other manufacturers. Increasingly the only products in a somewhat acceptable price range refurb devices that are several years old. Apple refurb is fantastic and one of the few companies I actually trust to buy a refurbished device from, but at some point I'd still prefer not to buy almost outdated stuff all the time.

Whatever the reason, it has become more expensive to be an Apple customer unless you are happy to buy things that have been on the market for a while, with the obvious risk that Apple will drop support sooner. I'm not predicting anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if Apple will find it harder to move stock in the next few years.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

Ah well, at least we can look forward to that price cut when the euro recovers, right?

…right?