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Apple Quietly Raises Prices of Mac Mini Models in Multiple Countries

Corrode said:
I assume this isn't the update that everyone was waiting for...
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Thanks for the good chuckle…..lol

mikeoui said:
If this was a more consistent bump, I would wonder if perhaps they are upping prices before a refresh so they can charge more but say that the price is "staying the same" when they announce the refresh.
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Exactly what I was thinking. Like a pre-emptive strike.
 
dumastudetto said:
He'd be right too.

You either help pay a contribution towards the extra cost of doing business internationally, or you live without the best products in the world.
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Or you can look at it that Apple needs the International market to keep US prices down. That doesn't mean they should gouge other countries which most US companies do, Apple not being the worst of that bunch.

I remember when I lived in the UK that with an exchange rate of $2 USD to 1 GBP, products cost $1USD but also 1 GBP a one for one exchange rate.

Plus I also noted that the price rise is not constant across models, why is that?

I was going to replace an iMac with a Mac Mini, but will hold off now and probably replace the iMac with a trickled down MBP when I buy one of those in a couple of years (just bought one a year ago) - Apples loss, as they push the prices higher, I will wait longer between upgrades.

Without a spec bump, aren't prices supposed to drop, not go up, so any currency fluctuations should be offset in reductions in build cost.

I know others in the family who are greatly due for upgrades that are talking about replacing with either iPads or Windows laptops.
 
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In Canada, Apple has raised the prices of peripherals and new iMacs. The Canadian dollar is fluctuating at between 3% to 5% below the USD, but some price differences are much greater than that.

Magic Mouse, Trackpad, and wireless keyboard up from $69 to $75, a 9% increase.
Wired keyboard with numeric keypad up from $49 to $55, a 12% increase.
USB Superdrive up from $79 to $89, a 13% increase.

The minis are at the same price as in the US, but the new iMacs are up by $50 for all models. This is only an increase of 2.5% for the base high end 27" iMac, so there's no percentage consistency with the increases, only a fixed dollar amount.
 
Juliobds said:
I know what this is... To me this is indication of an update in mid october for the mac minis.
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I would be faintly surprised if they update the mini before or close to the Mac Pro launch. Unless the Pro is very expensive, the better Mini models are going to be in competition with the entry-level Pro, especially if the new Intel integrated graphics are all they're cracked up to be. Apple don't want people thinking too deeply about whether they really need dual GPUs and a Xeon...

Earendil said:
That's because it's effected by more than just VAT. Local governments require different warranty programs that cost more/less money, local laws or culture increase the frequency/cost of lawsuits, local advertising will cost a different amount too.
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More lawsuits than in the US? Inconceivable :eek:

A lot of the spats that get reported are just Apple getting their wrists slapped by government or industry regulators for misleading advertising - they don't seem to get that "our lawyer agreed the ad was technically accurate" just doesn't cut it in most EU countries. ISTR the warranty thing was mainly about the wording of the advertising rather than what Apple were actually offering. Often, the penalty is simply a public dressing-down and having to change the advertising, and even where there is a fine I suspect it is far, far cheaper than participating in the US national sport of litigation.

I'm sure that extra warranty and consumer protection requirements (e.g. the EU distance selling regulations are particularly pro-consumer) are an issue, although I have to say that, looking at comments of forums, US customers seem far more willing to buy stuff and return it on a whim.

However, I think a big issue is just economies of scale: whereas the English-speaking US market is a single, huge market for a single version of the product, EU and other markets are lots of comparatively small markets with their own localisation and support issues, like needing to stock 3-4 different keyboard types (although someone should teach Apple what a British keyboard looks like) and providing multi-lingual support.

Now, there might be an element of knowing that UK citizens are able/willing to pay higher prices than other regions, but if that is the case it's a much smaller dollar amount that simply looking at tax differences.
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I recall the situation being much worse in the past - $1->£1 pricing back in the days when £1=$2, VAT was significantly lower (and less likely to be included in published prices) and there was no CE electrical regulation to comply with. I think that was one of the reasons why the Apple II never caught on in the UK to the extent that it did in the US - homegrown systems like the BBC Micro were half the price.
 
Casiotone said:
If Apple wanted to release Haswell based Mac minis, they would've done it at the same time as the iMacs.

To me this price hike means no new Mac minis in 2013, which would not be that surprising, as the Mac minis often had a longer update cycle as other Macs. (I think the longest time between refreshes was 19 months).
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Sh00t,
still no headless mac with usb3 and discreet GPU with lower price than macPro!
Just have to wait few years more...
(...NOT, finally about time to get diligent with building hackintosh, what was the name of that "especially for hackintosh" mobo...!)
 
UnfetteredMind said:
I'm hoping this means a refresh is fairly imminent. Then I'll just need to see the Geekbench scores to determine which model I want before ordering. Waiting to see if these get the same PCIe storage as the MBAs and iMacs have, that would be a very welcome boost.
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They almost certainly will
 
wow, that price for all those laptop parts stuffed into a desktop.
no thanks.
Apple should definitely think about mini tower with all desktop level peripherals.
That could lower the price but would give a huge performance boost.
 
Aussies get screwed by Apple nothing new. From itunes up. The iPhone 5s 64gb went up $128 from the 5 price.:mad:
 
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