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Dear Apple, from a UK user, what the HELL??!!

I

iFanboy

Guest
Original poster
I was all geared up to pre-order the iPhone4 today, in black, 32GB.

I log on to the Apple UK Store and see the following:-

iPhone 4 16GB - £499.00
iPhone 4 32GB - £599.00

What the HELL??!! £600 for a phone?

For our American friends, thats:-

iPhone 4 16GB - $739.66
iPhone 4 32GB - $887.92

I'm speechless. I'm NOT paying that. Sorry Apple, I accept the apple tax because you do sell premium products, but even for you this is a joke.

Bitterly disappointed :(

I just cannot justify paying that, despite my love of all things apple :(
 
Welcome to the "real" price of a phone, spoiled by years of subsidies or in your case tariffs. How much do you think the full phone retails for?
 
Squid7085 said:
Welcome to the "real" price of a phone, spoiled by years of subsidies or in your case tariffs. How much do you think the full phone retails for?
Click to expand...

From my experience of buying every other phone sim free, including Apple's 2G, 3G and 3GS - about £300-£400 is the standard.

£600 is ridiculous.
 
I'm also in the UK and when I woke up this morning I was quite upset at those prices! I went ahead and ordered the black 32 gig phone because despite the outrageously high price.. it IS completely unlocked and SIM-free and therefore no commitment to any contract whatsoever.

I believe the Americans are paying $699 (so $700) for their unlocked iPhone 4 32 gig.

Which means we're basically paying a good £120 more than the Americans for this freedom. Definitely sucks.

I'm still awaiting my confirmation email... Apple WTF? I ordered successfully 8 hours ago and the money has gone out of my account yet still no confirmation email...
 
I'm in the same boat as you, I really wanted this phone, but £600? I could get a decent computer for that, or a 32gb iPad 3G. It's ridiculous, they're basically relying on the fanboi sales and the rick businessmen to buy it, 'normal' people like me can't buy it now, despite LOVING :apple: products.
 
Squid7085 said:
Welcome to the "real" price of a phone, spoiled by years of subsidies or in your case tariffs. How much do you think the full phone retails for?
Click to expand...

If you think that is the "real" price of a phone, I advise you take a reality check.

My BB Bold 9700 was £370 unlocked. I bought it release day.
My Nokia N97 was £390 unlocked. I bought it a week after release day.

Both are flagship models that both had better tech specs than the comparable iPhones of their day. £500 is not the "real" price of the phone, it's extortionate.
 
iFanboy said:
I was all geared up to pre-order the iPhone4 today, in black, 32GB.

I log on to the Apple UK Store and see the following:-

iPhone 4 16GB - £499.00
iPhone 4 32GB - £599.00

What the HELL??!! £600 for a phone?

For our American friends, thats:-

iPhone 4 16GB - $739.66
iPhone 4 32GB - $887.92

I'm speechless. I'm NOT paying that. Sorry Apple, I accept the apple tax because you do sell premium products, but even for you this is a joke.

Bitterly disappointed :(

I just cannot justify paying that, despite my love of all things apple :(
Click to expand...

Your conversion is all wrong. Don't forget to remove VAT, as sales tax is exclusive from US prices.
 
You're surprised at the price and that we pay more in the U.K. for the exact same stuff. You think cars here cost the same in the U.S.? You think American's would be sitting calmly back and taking it to pay nearly $7 a gallon for petrol, like we do here?

If petrol hit $6 a gallon in the U.S., there would be hell to pay. British have been beaten down for so long by ******** taxes (I give you road tax for instance and not a penny of that tax actually goes to the roads) that the British people simply lay down and take the flogging.
 
docalex007 said:
I believe the Americans are paying $699 (so $700) for their unlocked iPhone 4 32 gig.

Which means we're basically paying a good £120 more than the Americans for this freedom. Definitely sucks.
Click to expand...

The US $699 model is locked to AT&T. Blame exchange rates and VAT (I'm not sure if you've factored in Sales Tax into your figures).
The iPhone4 IS essentially a mini-computer. People could always just go and buy a Nokia if they don't want to pay the SIM free price - or get it on a contract so the handset is subsidised by the phone network.
 
iFanboy said:
I was all geared up to pre-order the iPhone4 today, in black, 32GB.

I log on to the Apple UK Store and see the following:-

iPhone 4 16GB - £499.00
iPhone 4 32GB - £599.00

What the HELL??!! £600 for a phone?

For our American friends, thats:-

iPhone 4 16GB - $739.66
iPhone 4 32GB - $887.92

I'm speechless. I'm NOT paying that. Sorry Apple, I accept the apple tax because you do sell premium products, but even for you this is a joke.

Bitterly disappointed :(

I just cannot justify paying that, despite my love of all things apple :(
Click to expand...

It's the FULL PRICE of the Phone.

FYI, if you pay $599 (16GB) or $699 (32GB) in the US (No Contract price), it's BEFORE TAX and the damn phone is still LOCKED to AT&T. (Yes apparently paying full price of a phone in America is not enough to get that UNLOCKED... Maybe giving them my right leg will)

Yes, your price is probably overpriced by around $130 but again, with duties and imports, it will probably be close to $50 of pure overpricing which is not bad at all.
 
iFanboy said:
I was all geared up to pre-order the iPhone4 today, in black, 32GB.

I log on to the Apple UK Store and see the following:-

iPhone 4 16GB - £499.00
iPhone 4 32GB - £599.00

What the HELL??!! £600 for a phone?

For our American friends, thats:-

iPhone 4 16GB - $739.66
iPhone 4 32GB - $887.92

(
Click to expand...

thats not quite true on the price front to compare with US prices you need to remove 17.5% vat and then convert to dollars as the prices listed in the US are before tax which varies from state to state.

this translates to

iPhone 4 16GB - £499.00 - 17.5% VAT = £411.67 = $610.35
iPhone 4 32GB - £599.00 - 17.5% VAT = £494.17 = $732.66

if you look on the apple site in the US the price is for a subsidised handset with a 2 year phone contract.

Until o2, orange etc release contract prices for the new handset you cannot compare them against the US price of $199 & $299
 
davemc67 said:
thats not quite true on the price front to compare with US prices you need to remove 17.5% vat and then convert to dollars as the prices listed in the US are before tax which varies from state to state.

this translates to

iPhone 4 16GB - £499.00 - 17.5% VAT = £411.67 = $610.35
iPhone 4 32GB - £599.00 - 17.5% VAT = £494.17 = $732.66

if you look on the apple site in the US the price is for a subsidised handset with a 2 year phone contract.

Until o2, orange etc release contract prices for the new handset you cannot compare them against the US price of $199 & $299
Click to expand...

We have sim free option currently for 3GS. The price is $599/$699 for 16GB and 32GB.

The best thing about this is that the sim free phone is still locked to AT&T ;)
/sarcasm off
 
illutionz said:
It's the FULL PRICE of the Phone.

FYI, if you pay $599 (16GB) or $699 (32GB) in the US (No Contract price), it's BEFORE TAX and the damn phone is still LOCKED to AT&T. (Yes apparently paying full price of a phone in America is not enough to get that UNLOCKED... Maybe giving them my right leg will)

Yes, your price is probably overpriced by around $130 but again, with duties and imports, it will probably be close to $50 of pure overpricing which is not bad at all.
Click to expand...

Well said. I'm glad some people think straight and dont just write more rash stupid posts.

People need to get over the apparent cost difference as its not actually that big a gap.

Ha - I saw a post earlier that said "the US guys are getting their iPhone 4s for $299 which is like £200 and we have to pay £600, how is that a fair apple tax?!" - idiot!

It is not in Apple's interest to slap on a huge increase when they are trying to increase their market share. Once you take into account VAT/sales tax and import taxes etc and fluctuations in exchange rate its not that bad. Remember that the price has to be slightly higher than a direct conversion to cover differences in exchange rates, they cant just keep changing the UK price every day when the £ is different against the $. Also, VAT may be going up early next week which means they may have factored that into the prices - they wouldn't want you to reserve and then VAT goes up and then they either increase the price and you get pi**ed off or they keep the price the same and absorb the tax increase by less revenue.
 
davemc67 said:
thats not quite true on the price front to compare with US prices you need to remove 17.5% vat and then convert to dollars as the prices listed in the US are before tax which varies from state to state.

this translates to

iPhone 4 16GB - £499.00 - 17.5% VAT = £411.67 = $610.35
iPhone 4 32GB - £599.00 - 17.5% VAT = £494.17 = $732.66

if you look on the apple site in the US the price is for a subsidised handset with a 2 year phone contract.

Until o2, orange etc release contract prices for the new handset you cannot compare them against the US price of $199 & $299
Click to expand...

Hmm...rather close to our $599 and $699. Except our (U.S.) iPhones are STILL locked to AT&T!
 
beamer8912 said:
Hmm...rather close to our $599 and $699. Except our (U.S.) iPhones are STILL locked to AT&T!
Click to expand...

but at least your sales tax isn't 17.5% .... although i think a lot of US customers would pay 17.5% if that meant the phone was truly sim free
 
I have to agree that this iPhone is ridiculously expensive, £599, you can buy a 64gb iPad for that!!!
 
iFanboy said:
From my experience of buying every other phone sim free, including Apple's 2G, 3G and 3GS - about £300-£400 is the standard.

£600 is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

So you don't remember the PAYG/SIM free price for a 32Gb 3GS being over £500 last year then? I do: I paid it.
 
rdowns said:
We added a few bucks to help clean up your oil spill.


Steve
__________________
Sent from my iPhone 4
Click to expand...

Using US manufactured, maintained, designed and operated rig. Suddenly forgotten by vast majority of the US including the President.
 
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