Hell freezes over, Apple products in China are now cheaper than in Europe! wohoo - I mean, sucks if you're in Europe 
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Apple Raises Prices in Europe and Canada as U.S. Dollar Remains Strong
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I am not surprised that some of our users pick up Apple hardware while on holiday or business in the US. This is crazy.
I was already very very inclined to go back to PC, but this price increase is just the nail in the coffin. Now it's not a matter of "if" but "when" (when my iMac dies or becomes not enough for what I do). Windows 10 is looking really nice and for the 1550 of the mid range 21.5" iMac, I can build a PC that OBLITERATES that thing (seriously a spinner? Iris Graphics? for 1550?).
In the U.S. sales taxes are never included in the shown price.
On the UK website all the prices shown are the final prices, only in more detailed pages are the taxes shown. This is a good way of doing it because customers are never unwittingly mislead about the price of something and they always know how much tax they are paying. Knowing how much tax you are paying is benefit oval to those who can reclaim their taxes.
What? I see the iPhone 6 unlocked starts at $650 in the US store. Without tax I guess.
In Germany it's 700 (~$780) including 19% VAT. Apple pays from what we know 12.5% off from the net price (~73) so they get roundabout 625 or $695. Not that much of a difference. But maybe I'm off.
Don't really care about the 1:1 comparisons anyway since I look at the price I'd have to pay, the specs and and design and finally decide if that's worth my money or not. And with Apple that equals a no-buy more often now than in the past. I don't want a smartphone that can shoot videos and take hi-res pictures for example if that means I have to pay nearly 1000 bucks for that (and fails after 4yrs or so..) so yea..gonna look somewhere else. Same with MacPro
rolleyes, etc..
I wish we'd do the same in Canada and put the advertised /sticker price with taxes already included.
As a consumer, especially in Ontario, you must always remember to add 13% sales take to whatever the sticker item is.
So as I mentioned before. that iPhone 6, 16gb model is legitimately $850 unlocked now. (960 with tax).
That is a bitter pill to swallow for the cheapest model available.
Hell freezes over, Apple products in China are now cheaper than in Europe! wohoo - I mean, sucks if you're in Europe
Not really. It just means there will be a whole business on ebay of shipping Mac products from Hong Kong, just like there is currently with camera and lenses. Moreover, they're pretty good at avoiding any tax.
Otherwise, you can buy Apple products in Europe with the education prices, that's around 200 less on the MBPr 15".
Ouch. Trying real hard to stay in this ecosystem but its getting insane. Between their massive compromises on the professional side (nMP) and the price jumps, I am not sure I can continue this route. Waiting to see what the next nMP is in the next year. If its a minor bump in specs for an outrageous price then I'm out. Really wish they stuck with the giant silver box. My 7.5 year old Pro can't hold out much longer.
(Canada btw)
(Canada btw)
nice story about accommodating apple
Allthough Apple's screwing us Europeans at the moment with these prices, I got a nice story to tell:
Last week i ordered a refurbished iMac 27'' non-retina (3,5 GHz i7, GTX780M 4GB, 8GB RAM, 3TB FusionDrive) for 2299. Now with the "new" refreshed iMacs becoming more expensive yesterday, somehow the exact same model in the refurbished store became 2189. 110 cheaper than last week.
I called AppleCare today and told them that I would send mine back and reorder the cheaper one, or better they send me that 110 bucks back or put it in my iTunes store account... end of story: i'm gettin 100 back on my credit card!!! they told me that 100 is the maximum they could offer me - fair enough!
Apple's pricing is harsh sometimes but their at least the most accommodating company i know at all!
First iMac - hell of a machine - love it! I won't go Retina5K before Canonlake revision, the non-retina is actually retina from a 60cm-viewing distance which is the actual distance i'm sitting at; and content-wise it doesn't make sense for me. what u think?
greetings from Germany
Allthough Apple's screwing us Europeans at the moment with these prices, I got a nice story to tell:
Last week i ordered a refurbished iMac 27'' non-retina (3,5 GHz i7, GTX780M 4GB, 8GB RAM, 3TB FusionDrive) for 2299. Now with the "new" refreshed iMacs becoming more expensive yesterday, somehow the exact same model in the refurbished store became 2189. 110 cheaper than last week.
I called AppleCare today and told them that I would send mine back and reorder the cheaper one, or better they send me that 110 bucks back or put it in my iTunes store account... end of story: i'm gettin 100 back on my credit card!!! they told me that 100 is the maximum they could offer me - fair enough!
Apple's pricing is harsh sometimes but their at least the most accommodating company i know at all!
First iMac - hell of a machine - love it! I won't go Retina5K before Canonlake revision, the non-retina is actually retina from a 60cm-viewing distance which is the actual distance i'm sitting at; and content-wise it doesn't make sense for me. what u think?
greetings from Germany
It's not a "good way of doing it" - it's the only way they legally can.
Consumer-focused prices in the UK must include VAT.
Consumers will never be confused about it as there is no room for confusion.
If you have to reclaim VAT, I'm pretty sure you're smart enough that you don't need Apple to tell you how much it is.
My 'solution' to the high prices is to simply stretch the lifespan as long as possible. For example, one of my machines is a Mac Pro 3,1 aka 'early 2008'. Still works fine. I think it cost around 2500 so on average that's around 1 per day now.
This year, I bought a Philips 40' 4K UHD screen (± 700 including taxes in Germany) and switched the 8800 GT video card for a much more silent, used GTX 660 2GB 'PC card' ( 75, Dutch website) so I can use the monitor @UHD with it. Now it's more silent faster with a 120 GB SSD (± 75) as a startup 'disk'.
There hasn't come a price increase with yesterday's new MBP.
That price increase you're talking about happened in march already.
I bought my brand new 15" MBP in Feb of 2010 for CDN$2000 including tax and fees.. Now the base 15" MBP will cost almost CDN$3000 including tax and fees... Oh well. I guess I'll go shopping to Buffalo if I need a new Mac. Thank god I have US dollar gic.
You're getting this wrong, it's not another price increase for the same products.
In march, they adjusted prices for MacBooks and iPods, now it's the desktop Macs. No change so far for iPhones and iPads, at least in Europe.
I don't know if it was all across Europe, but there were price increases for iPhones and iPad in some European countries.
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Both in Portugal and in Poland there was price increase in March.
But as far as I can see there was no new price increase for these devices in May.
Ok, maybe in some. But my point was, there hasn't been another price change on anything. The products of which the prices have been increased yesterday all had not received an increase in march.
Let's do some neat exercises with each Apple Product (Major Ones only). All of them are base models and the sales tax is average for US and Portuguese one (as prices change across Europe and I'm in Portugal):
Apple loses money on mobile devices (except iPod Touch) but makes money (a lot) with computers. So here goes the mith that sales tax has anything to do with it, it's pure greed to over charge, sometimes 200, for a single computer.
Apple loses money on mobile devices (except iPod Touch) but makes money (a lot) with computers. So here goes the mith that sales tax has anything to do with it, it's pure greed to over charge, sometimes 200, for a single computer.
Same at my local store (I'm from U.K). What I would say is that the merchandising has always evolved to current trends, and the products are moved around from time to time.
For example, at my store there are three central tables aligned lengthways from the front of the store to the back; iPhone, Watch and then MacBooks. Before the Watch was released, its table and the MacBooks were placed together so that there were twice as many MacBooks, and this space was also used for One to Ones. Now the One to Ones are segregated off into the corner of the store!
I wouldn't complain with the placement of iOS devices however, because the vast majority of people visiting the store are interested in either buying an iPad or getting their iPhone repaired aha.
