Apple is pricing in and eventual (and inevitable) decline of the US dollar. Once the dollar tanks -- which it eventually will due to multiple rounds of quantitative easing and years of 0% interest rates -- Apple won't have to raise its prices to account for the poor exchange rate.
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iPhone SE Priced at Premium in Australia and Elsewhere
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I'll be honest I did not check the iPad pricing, was keen, till I saw the protruding lens on a device that should lie on a surface if you use a pencil, and I use my apple products without cases.
I lie, I checked the top spec one and it was nearly £900 pounds
and with the accessories to try to turn it into a laptop replacement it was over £1000 pounds 
According to many comments, seems MR didn't do their homework. I didn't pull numbers from the Apple sites, but prices quoted in Europe include tax (ca 20% in Germany / Austria, 8% in Switzerland.). Any remaining gap in prices may include shipping premiums or excise taxes.
On a different topic, and not due to exchange rate, I think Apple will make a fortune on this phone because it utilizes the equipment and tooling investments made in the iPhone 5 production line. With this line probably amortized in the first one or two years, the only real fixed costs will be for the component part investment that are already being shared with the iPhone 6 and 6s.
It also allows apple to leverage and extend good prices on purchased components like the camera, processor, etc. by putting a device "out of phase" with the normal iPhone release cycle.
By smoothing production, by lowering the former Oct to March peak orders, and move and fill the Apr to Sept trough, Apple can reduce peak capacity investments and extract supplier price reductions by keeping production lines humming in the spring and summer periods.
At the same time, this phone won't cannibalize sales to early adopters because it doesn't have flagship new features found in the tick-tock Oct to Oct sechedule.
I call this cycle "Tick-tick-tuck (the profits in your pocket!)"
On a different topic, and not due to exchange rate, I think Apple will make a fortune on this phone because it utilizes the equipment and tooling investments made in the iPhone 5 production line. With this line probably amortized in the first one or two years, the only real fixed costs will be for the component part investment that are already being shared with the iPhone 6 and 6s.
It also allows apple to leverage and extend good prices on purchased components like the camera, processor, etc. by putting a device "out of phase" with the normal iPhone release cycle.
By smoothing production, by lowering the former Oct to March peak orders, and move and fill the Apr to Sept trough, Apple can reduce peak capacity investments and extract supplier price reductions by keeping production lines humming in the spring and summer periods.
At the same time, this phone won't cannibalize sales to early adopters because it doesn't have flagship new features found in the tick-tock Oct to Oct sechedule.
I call this cycle "Tick-tick-tuck (the profits in your pocket!)"
People update EACH cycle?!?!?! People actually do that?!?!?!
Yes, ok, I do know people who do this... rich people... people without kids... But the rest of us - hell, my last new out of the box Mac was an eMac in 2004. (Ok, and a MBP in 2009)
Was the originating article news? No. The rest of the world (or at least, us Aussies) have called it "Apple Tax" for decades... The % that Apple products cost, above and beyond any applicable taxes and exchange rates.
When the US $ was running poorly, we here in Oz were sometimes seeing mere pocket change difference between US pricing and local pricing... But now that we're back to AU$1 = US$0.70, the Apple Tax is back.
Ok, lets look at this...
Apple exports their new phone that retails in the US for $399 ex state taxes, to Australia, and gives it a retail price there of AU$697 including the GST.
USA
iPhone SE = US$399 ex US state taxes
iPhone SE = Direct Conversion AU$525.17 ex US state taxes
iPhone SE = Plus up to 7.5% (California) state tax AU$564.56
Australia
iPhone SE = AU$697 inc GST
iPhone SE = AU$633.63 ex GST
Apple has marked the price up 20% excluding taxes, based on today's exchange rate.
At worst in the US you pay AU$564.56 for an iPhone SE, but in Australia you pay AU$697... or 23% more based on the worst case US price with taxes.
The same comparison between base iMac models - the markup is only around 6%...
Just as a follow up, the prices on the US site are without tax right . That would make the top end 256 lte model some $200 cheaper in the UK after you remove VAT? Or have I got it all wrong ?
There is no tax on the US listed prices. The tax rate differs state to state so it is added at point of sale.
If you are talking about the 9.7" iPad Pro then the UK price works out at $999 without VAT which is $30 cheaper than the US price.
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Along with all the tipping that the Americans do, buying anything in the US must be incredibly frustrating and somewhat confusing.
So, after tax and tips, how much is the iPhone SE in America?
It's £332 just doing a simple USD to GBP conversion and adding VAT. We're not really paying that much more.
The pound is quite weak at the moment, maybe that'll start to change after the referendum in June. Who knows.
Apple seemed to be pretty kind to us yesterday. The Apple Watch saw a larger decrease in price here than America, and taking into account the exchange rate and VAT, the equivalent $599 iPad got marginally cheaper.
I was referring to iPhones. No need to update macs and iPads each cycle.
As for iPhone prices I bought my iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6S plus in Aus .
Some 20% increase in one year based on Oz dollar
http://m.smh.com.au/digital-life/mo...he-falling-aussie-dollar-20150909-gjj4lv.html
You might be cool with it, but a $280 dollar hike in one year in Oz is a LOT.
In Oz a top spec iPhone is approaching $1.5K..... That's too much.
As for iPhone prices I bought my iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6S plus in Aus .
Some 20% increase in one year based on Oz dollar
http://m.smh.com.au/digital-life/mo...he-falling-aussie-dollar-20150909-gjj4lv.html
You might be cool with it, but a $280 dollar hike in one year in Oz is a LOT.
In Oz a top spec iPhone is approaching $1.5K..... That's too much.
Taxes or no taxes, this iPhone was supposed to be cheaper then the entry level iPhone 5s was and still maintain higher specs. In the EU and the rest of the world it's priced way out of the 5s ballpark. Even up to 20% more.
I think that including all taxes in the advertised price is more fair to the consumer.
However, online shops should be mandated to additionally show the price without taxes if sell outside of the applicable area (not only in the cart or when logged in!).
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seem? tax in the US about 8 to 9 %? and around 20% so even woth tax the prices are insane
i feel like Apple is slowly giving up on the european market and thus making it more expensive to even out the loss they would otherwise make with less sales (compared to the US).
i bet the iPhone 7 is gonna start at 799€ for 16 GB all of the sudden. The iPhone 6 was 699€ and now the 6S is 747,36€ or something redic
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Many people commenting on this thread fail to understand that even without taxes, the european prices are considerably higher than in the US. For example, a 399$ (without tax) Sony Playstation VR is priced in Poland at 1769 PLN (with tax). Meanwhile, the 399$ iPhone SE costs 2149 PLN (also with tax). The difference - 380 PLN - is almost exactly 100$. This is the "premium" the author of the article is talking about.
Which marks a 20% increase over the previous price of the iPhone 5s, right?
Difference in Australia between 16GB/64GB SE/6S are both $400. Still a bit of a discount.
Comparing the difference between the 16GB/64GB SE/6S+ the difference is $550. An even bigger difference.
A saving yes, but considering the dollar against the US, not so much.
But for a phone that's got some pretty good internals, it'll do what you need it to. I can see this being a big deal. Not for everybody, but for those who've been crying out for this - they've l got what they asked for. Now buy the damn thing. Especially when it's got 2GB of RAM.
Comparing the difference between the 16GB/64GB SE/6S+ the difference is $550. An even bigger difference.
A saving yes, but considering the dollar against the US, not so much.
But for a phone that's got some pretty good internals, it'll do what you need it to. I can see this being a big deal. Not for everybody, but for those who've been crying out for this - they've l got what they asked for. Now buy the damn thing. Especially when it's got 2GB of RAM.
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The article is talking about comparing prices without tax at both places. You're contradicting yourself.
My poor fellow Aussies.
Canada isn't much better, it's actually cheaper for me to pick up an iPhone while in the US!
Canada isn't much better, it's actually cheaper for me to pick up an iPhone while in the US!
