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iPhone SE (2020) Canadians are getting hosed on iPhone prices

Yes, we get this in the UK as well, Iphone SE is £399 which equates to $ US 556, when its sold in the US for $399 (£285) so £115 overcharge. Just ridiculous I know. Apple is a US company I suppose, so will look after their home market first, but this is clearly done at the expense of the rest of the world.
 
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snipr125 said:
Yes, we get this in the UK as well, Iphone SE is £399 which equates to $ US 556, when its sold in the US for $399 (£285) so £115 overcharge. Just ridiculous I know. Apple is a US company I suppose, so will look after their home market first, but this is clearly done at the expense of the rest of the world.
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It's really hard to justify buying the SE when the Pixel 4a is only $479 CAD.
 
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snipr125 said:
Yes, we get this in the UK as well, Iphone SE is £399 which equates to $ US 556, when its sold in the US for $399 (£285) so £115 overcharge. Just ridiculous I know. Apple is a US company I suppose, so will look after their home market first, but this is clearly done at the expense of the rest of the world.
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Maybe not the best example to use, does the US price included taxes? Look to the MacBooks if you want to see real gouging!
 
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It's always been that way. We also have no visibility into what each of our countries charges for import duties.

As for the Pixel comment - heh - yeah, sure. Go ahead and get an Android device. :)

Apple has such healthy margins as they know we really have no choice - there's two ecosystems. Most that understand just how evil Android/Google is could never consider using that platform.
 
Robospungo said:
It's really hard to justify buying the SE when the Pixel 4a is only $479 CAD.
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Yes, if you don't mind using Android of course (stock Android I like). But at least the Android phones like Samsung, One Plus etc charge prices more reasonably for their phones when converted e.g. Oneplus 9 is £629 and $US 729 RRP (although £629=$879 so still not quite right).
 
The problem with Apple is they never update the price, they do the conversion at the time of release and never update it for currencly fluctuations. When the iPhone SE2 was released the Canadian was $0.71 USD. Today it's $0.81 USD.

They should at least update the conversion like every quarter.
 
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McScooby said:
Maybe not the best example to use, does the US price included taxes? Look to the MacBooks if you want to see real gouging!
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Yes sorry about that. 10% is the highest US VAT rate, with some states having not VAT at all. Even with the 10% US VAT added there is still a pricing disparity though.
 
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As pointed out, this is not exclusive to Canada. Three factors at play: import duties for electronics from China (not the US, so no NAFTA/USMCA), VAT or sales tax & finally exchange rates.

Apple could be more generous/less greedy about the exchange rate it uses, as they seem to over-compensate for fluctuations, screwing customers. They also update the price like once a year, regardless of higher value of a foreign currency.

The first two factors, however, are beyond Apple's control. People specially forget import duties when doing these calculations.
 
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HiVolt said:
The problem with Apple is they never update the price, they do the conversion at the time of release and never update it for currencly fluctuations. When the iPhone SE2 was released the Canadian was $0.71 USD. Today it's $0.81 USD.

They should at least update the conversion like every quarter.
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Does any company update their prices like that? I’m not defending Apple here but I think it’s entirely fair for them to set prices at time of launch and not adjust for currency fluctuations… that’s also just a cause for confusion (and not in the ‘keep it simple, stupid’ Apple way).
 
apparatchik said:
As pointed out, this is not exclusive to Canada. Three factors at play: import duties for electronics from China (not the US, so no NAFTA/USMCA), VAT or sales tax & finally exchange rates.

Apple could be more generous/less greedy about the exchange rate it uses, as they seem to over-compensate for fluctuations, screwing customers. They also update the price like once a year, regardless of higher value of a foreign currency.

The first two factors, however, are beyond Apple's control. People specially forget import duties when doing these calculations.
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Interesting, so the US do not have to pay import duties from China? I did not know that.

Now that the UK is independent and not in the EU anymore, maybe Boris can start negotiating similar deals with the Chinese Govt!!!
 
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snipr125 said:
Interesting, so the US do not have to pay import duties from China? I did not know that.

Now that the UK is independent and not in the EU anymore, maybe Boris can start negotiating similar deals with the Chinese Govt!!!
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Every country has a different rate, Mexico's is higher than those from US, for example. While some countries like Brazil or India have crazy high import duties for electronics. Then of course is the sales tax, which is also higher. (Mexico's is 16%, while Brazil is above 20% if I recall correctly).

Thing is, people watch Apple's keynotes, they see a number on the screen, say, $399, and then wonder how can the same product cost double that in their home market.

Im not saying there's no blame on Apple, as they seem to use a very consumer unfavorable exchange rate as well, at least for hardware. Services (think Apple Music, App prices and subscriptions) pay lower taxes or no taxes at all in some cases.
 
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snipr125 said:
Interesting, so the US do not have to pay import duties from China? I did not know that.

Now that the UK is independent and not in the EU anymore, maybe Boris can start negotiating similar deals with the Chinese Govt!!!
Click to expand...

Also, you don't need a deal to lower your import duties, you can just go ahead and do it.
 
Another thing that might explain the price gap. At least in EU/UK you basically have 2 years warranty (well technically not warranty but close) against what? 90 days in the US?

If I was in charge of setting prices I would factor in that I would risk having to repair/exchange a product 500 days after the sale.
I guess you should not only add taxes but also the cost of Apple care + when comparing.

Don’t know about Canada though
 
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HiVolt said:
The problem with Apple is they never update the price, they do the conversion at the time of release and never update it for currencly fluctuations. When the iPhone SE2 was released the Canadian was $0.71 USD. Today it's $0.81 USD.

They should at least update the conversion like every quarter.
Click to expand...
Wow, to be honest, this might be the reason why iPhone SE got suddenly more expensive in Poland, but you still get less stuff than you would've a year before. No headphones, no charger etc.
 
The problem is not from Apple as far as I'm concerned (I live in Canada).

Let's take an example: the base 16-inch MacBook Pro (Intel) which is currently at 2399 US$ and 2999 CA$.

At first, it may seems like Apple is screwing the customers in other countries but let's analyze this price.

If I buy the computer in the US, it will cost me 2399 + 131.95 = 2530.95 US$ (my example takes Maine as the state where the computer is bought). Then, if I convert this price in $CA, as of today, it will be 3103.62 CA$. Now, I need to take it to Canada through the customs. If I take the CBSA taxes and duty calculator, it will cost me another 464.77 CA$ (in Québec) to import it. Grand total: 3568.39 $CA.

Now, if I buy it in Québec directly: 2999 CA$ (computer) + 449.10 CA$ (14.975% taxes, ouch) = 3448.10 CA$.

That's 120$ less than if I bought it in Canada. In the end, you save the tax paid in the US by buying it directly in your country, so the price is the same.

Now I know Canada have a special relationship with the US when it comes to product sales. In Europe I think there are disadvantages because of economic policies.
 
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It's always been like that, and most products are that way. Some things are more expensive for a reason (e.g. our dairy is much higher quality; growth hormones have never been allowed here), our gas prices go up with our dollar (because petrodollar)... what are we at right now, $1.25/L in Ontario?

Bringing products into a different country isn't as simple as convert to a different currency, and boom, you're done. Canada is a significantly more expensive country to operate in than the US for various reasons, sales are a fraction (population is a tiny fraction too) and a million more reasons.

The US is the world's largest economy, the most integrated economy, most developed supply chain etc. etc. etc. Many things are cheapest in the US vs. anywhere... which is why I buy a ton of stuff there.
 
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snipr125 said:
Interesting, so the US do not have to pay import duties from China? I did not know that.

Now that the UK is independent and not in the EU anymore, maybe Boris can start negotiating similar deals with the Chinese Govt!!!
Click to expand...
Apple manufactures in an “special economic zone” in China, aka treated as international zone. If Apple sells iPhone to most of China, then it’s imported from China to China.

Yes, I know.
 
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loybond said:
It's always been like that, and most products are that way. Some things are more expensive for a reason (e.g. our dairy is much higher quality; growth hormones have never been allowed here), our gas prices go up with our dollar (because petrodollar)... what are we at right now, $1.25/L in Ontario?

Bringing products into a different country isn't as simple as convert to a different currency, and boom, you're done. Canada is a significantly more expensive country to operate in than the US for various reasons, sales are a fraction (population is a tiny fraction too) and a million more reasons.

The US is the world's largest economy, the most integrated economy, most developed supply chain etc. etc. etc. Many things are cheapest in the US vs. anywhere... which is why I buy a ton of stuff there.
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This isn’t true. Many things are very similarly priced. It really is just as simple as doing currency conversion. iPhones are very much an outlier (the SE specifically). Even among Apple products, there’s usually not much difference between US and Canadian pricing.

PS5: $490 vs. $499
XBOX Series X: $613 vs. $599 (cheaper in Canada)
Mac Mini: $859 vs. $899
iMac: $1597 vs. $1599

Even $549 CAD for the SE would be within the boundaries of reasonable, but $599 is pure gouging.
 
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Robospungo said:
iPhone SE is currently sold for $399 US, which converts to $490 CAD.

Current price in Canada is $599 CAD. A full $109 overcharge.

Tim Apple pulling his highway robbery tactics north of the border.
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Just curious, do you have any idea how exchange rates work? Just did a quick check and the Canadian to USD exchange rate = .81. A quick calculation is $399 USD/.81 = $494 CAD.

oopsie I misread your post, my apologies. is the $599 after tax?

Shirasaki said:
Been like that for years now. Nothing too fancy tbh.
It sucks. Hope US Congress can have some influence over that.
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the exchange rates? What influence are you looking for. You do know what that is, yah? BTW it is .81 today

snipr125 said:
Yes, we get this in the UK as well, Iphone SE is £399 which equates to $ US 556, when its sold in the US for $399 (£285) so £115 overcharge. Just ridiculous I know. Apple is a US company I suppose, so will look after their home market first, but this is clearly done at the expense of the rest of the world.
Click to expand...
1. what is the exchange rate? 2. How does that compare to Samsung phones? my guess is that it is comparable based on exchange rates. You seriously don't know what those are?

Robospungo said:
It's really hard to justify buying the SE when the Pixel 4a is only $479 CAD.
Click to expand...
hmmmm, the pixel 4a is cheaper here too. oh my, who would have thought, the difference appears to be exchange rates!
 
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