Pricing looks bonkers written down but I suppose most people just pay monthly amount over x number of years so it takes the sting.
I mean it’s more than their laptops
I mean it’s more than their laptops
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iPhone 17 Lineup Starts at 256GB Storage, Pro Max Gets 2TB Option
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iPhone 17 Pro Max is £1200 to £2,000 in UK, which at current fx rate (1.35) is $1623 to $2700.
UK prices include 20% VAT, while retail convention in the US is to quote prices before sales tax. (So feel better that most US people pay more for everything than the prices you see online?)
Remove VAT and those UK prices are $1352 to $2250. So still about 12.5% more than the US, but not as much as it might seem at first. I imagine the difference is largely a hedge against fx risk (e.g. if USD drops 12% against sterling), then rounding up to the nearest £100.
Bezel sizes have varied in the past: when 10R was the budget iPhone, it had the same curved edge design as X and XS, but larger bezels to keep costs down. Although in that case it could have been related to also using different display technology.
Comparing prices year on year in Europe, on Apple products, there was no apparent increase. Prices even went down when considering inflation (the real kind).
It's funny how the same people who totally don't think they are the center of the universe (while speaking to the contrary) are on board with bashing Europe and trying to convince themselves that we Europeans are getting punished somehow, when it's Apple who's gotten stared down by the Commission time and again.
They forget they have US (Europe, not US USA, duh) to thank for USBC.
Meanwhile Apple isn't (edit: isn'r shafting Europe ONLY) with USB2 speeds, but spitefully witholding innovation, contradicting their (losing) argument that the USBC mandate was hurting innovation.
And Murikans get the shaft too. So really, Europe should keep on teaching Apple life lessons.
Yes we are aware of the USA's current struggles with economics, democracy and math literacy.
I posted this several months ago.
Post in thread 'Is Now the Time to Upgrade Apple Devices Before Tariffs Lead to Price Increases?'
The exchange rate has moved even further since then - now $999 USD is equivalent to €853 or so, rather than the approx 911 it was then. That sort of difference is pretty consistent across the board with Apple.
So Apple products are relatively about 18% more in Europe than in the US. That is DESPITE imports to the US being subject to tariffs.
To me that says Apple is cynically using international customers to subsidise US customers and mask the impact of tariffs to them, and tbh that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I have no intention of subsidising you, so it looks like I'll be leaving Apple again on my next refresh cycle.
Phones, computers, and chips were exempted from Trump’s US import tariffs in April.
But even if they weren’t, economics doesn’t work like that. Every for-profit business in the world seeks to charge as much as market demand will support. If Apple thinks it can double the price of an iPhone in Elbonia without tanking demand or creating a market for grey imports, it’ll do it today. But if Elbonia is a competitive market where consumers have alternative choices, then Apple must take care with prices. It doesn’t matter if halfway around the world in Wakanda their cost of sales just doubled; if conditions in Elbonia are unchanged then raising prices there will depress demand and they’ll make less money, not more.
Europeans are not subsidising Americans when they buy an iPhone. If you think it costs too much, then the rational economic action is to choose a lower-priced competitor. That’s how markets operate: not as an international conspiracy where a company decides which markets are suckers who will bear their costs, and which ones they will subsidise with lower prices just because America.
But even if they weren’t, economics doesn’t work like that. Every for-profit business in the world seeks to charge as much as market demand will support. If Apple thinks it can double the price of an iPhone in Elbonia without tanking demand or creating a market for grey imports, it’ll do it today. But if Elbonia is a competitive market where consumers have alternative choices, then Apple must take care with prices. It doesn’t matter if halfway around the world in Wakanda their cost of sales just doubled; if conditions in Elbonia are unchanged then raising prices there will depress demand and they’ll make less money, not more.
Europeans are not subsidising Americans when they buy an iPhone. If you think it costs too much, then the rational economic action is to choose a lower-priced competitor. That’s how markets operate: not as an international conspiracy where a company decides which markets are suckers who will bear their costs, and which ones they will subsidise with lower prices just because America.
Europe is treated the same way by console manufacturers; it's a common practice to overcharge Europe to penetrate the US market, as if America were the end-all validator.
I will also skip this iPhone generation, as I have just learned that Apple is still crippling the new models with USB-2, and there is a limit to the amount of cynicism I can take.
That and the "presidential situation", coupled with the cynicism of trying to make us democratic world leaders pay for their fascist boo-boos, have convinced me to try an affordable Samsung for a few skip years at least. At least Koreans know how to whoop their dictator presidents.
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There’s a lot to unpack there, mostly nothing to do with what I posted. Sounds like you know what you want and why you want it, so good for you.
Increasing the inflated base storage and advertising the $60 iPhone walker is their way of keeping the price the same this year I suppose.