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The full truth about Apple pricing (it will blow your mind, seriously)

Pangalactic

Pangalactic

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 28, 2016
519
1,462
Hi.
So, as you all already probably know, the new Macbook Pro is super expensive, with the maxed out version selling for a crazy amount of $4300.


Ready to get your mind blown?

I live in Russia, and computers a usually a little bit more expensive here. Let's find out by now much, shall we?

So, here I am looking at a brand new dell XPS 15 9550, with QHD display, an Nvidia 960M, 16 gigs of RAM and a 521GB SSD.
It costs 138000 rubles on this website, which is 2131 USD:


image.png

image.png





Now let's look at the same model at the official Dell website:


image.png



it costs 2000 USD. So, it's approximately 6% more expensive in Russia.

Now let's look at the 2016 new Macbook Pro. On the official(!) Apple website, you can buy it for $4300, as we already know (which is 2x more expensive then the very similar Dell XPS, but that is not the point).


image.png


On the same official Apple Russian website, it costs 349000 rubles:


image.png


Can you guess how much it is? Seriously, take a guess before looking at the answer.


--------------------
*THINKING TIME*
--------------------





image.png


FIVE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDED AND EIGHTY SEVEN DOLLARS!!!
That is a 25 percent difference in prices!

Buying a Macbook in Russia has the exact same price as flying from Moscow to New York, staying there for a night, buying a US Macbook and flying back.

And the funny thing is - as we have just seen - that this has got nothing to do with the VAT or export duties or anything else, as very mysteriously the price increase affects the Apple devices only and nothing else.

But I think I can solve this mystery, and I know this reason.

It is the same reason why the new Macbooks are $200 more expensive, why there is no headphone jack in Iphone 7 and quite a few wireless "Beats" in Apple Stores, why we need their official dongles for everything, and why even connecting your brand new Iphone to your new Macbook has a little bit more Apple's money-magic than usual.

Thanks for reading.
 
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This has been my point - Apple have ignored the international tax impacts on the end user prices of its products and/or used these discrepancies as an excuse to simply increase prices. Very aggressive stuff but it doesn't seem to be harming them...
 
Not sure I got the point of this post. There was never a conclusive reason stated. Is the reason why Apple products are priced the way they are because Apple is attempting to increase tourism in the United States?
 
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I dont understand why you compare XPS 15 and 15inch MBP like that and saying MBP is 2x expensive.
you are so obviously biased.

you know $4300 MBP comes with a $1200 2tb ssd. and the XPS 15 only comes with 512. so why do you compare $4300 vs $2000 and say it's 2x expensive, instead of comparing $3100 vs $2000? why not apple to apple?
 
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Balaamsdonkey said:
I love how click-baity this post title is.
Click to expand...

I promised a mind blow and I delivered - because I've never seen anything so ridiculous in my life!
I can look past the dongles and the keyboard and everything else as I really like the MacOS experience when considering whether to buy the new model or nor, but the pricing is just off the charts.

garyleecn said:
I dont understand why you compare XPS 15 and 15inch MBP like that and saying MBP is 2x expensive.
you are so obviously biased.
Click to expand...

:confused: just for you:

Pangalactic said:
(which is 2x more expensive then the very similar Dell XPS, but that is not the point).
Click to expand...
 
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Hate to burst your bubble but I literally just last week purchased that identical XPS15 here in the States for $1529. So Dell is actually charging THIRTY percent more in Russia!

It's also kind of disingenuous to compare the top of the line MBP with a $1000 2TB SSD option to a standard mid-line XPS. It's $400 to upgrade the Dell to 1TB, and 2TB isn't even offered.
 
Your comparison is not apples to apples (pardon the pun). US companies operating overseas have to adjust their prices over time to account for exchange rates. The USD is quite high right now making it expensive to buy US goods outside of the US. A high US dollar is actually bad for US overseas trade, independent of taxes. On the other side, a weaker currency in other counties can have the same impact. In Australia, the same MacBook Pro is still more expensive than in the US, but about $400 USD cheaper than the Russian price. It does not look like Dell sells direct in Russia so I cant find a direct comparison.
 
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zhenya said:
Hate to burst your bubble but I literally just last week purchased that identical XPS15 here in the States for $1529. So Dell is actually charging THIRTY percent more in Russia!

It's also kind of disingenuous to compare the top of the line MBP with a $1000 2TB SSD option to a standard mid-line XPS. It's $400 to upgrade the Dell to 1TB, and 2TB isn't even offered.
Click to expand...

You are mistaken, 1529$ (or so) is the top specs but with 8 gigs of RAM, otherwise you would be buying it for almost $480 cheaper than Dell is officially selling it. The 16 gig model, which I have here for comparison, is $1999.


And it is a fair comparison. It would be unfair if I looked at the price difference only, which is why I did it with percentages.
 
Pangalactic said:
You are mistaken, 1529$ (or so) is the top specs but with 8 gigs of RAM, otherwise you would be buying it for almost $480 cheaper than Dell is officially selling it. The 16 gig model, which I have here for comparison, is $1999.


And it is a fair comparison. It would be unfair if I looked at the price difference only, which is why I did it with percentages.
Click to expand...

No, it was the 16GB version. I know exactly what I bought as it's my job to do so. The published prices for Dell are rarely the prices paid here.
 
zhenya said:
No, it was the 16GB version. I know exactly what I bought as it's my job to do so. The published prices for Dell are rarely the prices paid here.
Click to expand...

Awesome, can you please provide a link? I'd love to see this amazing place where you can buy laptops for such cheap prices
 
speedbumpnv said:
Your comparison is not apples to apples (pardon the pun). US companies operating overseas have to adjust their prices over time to account for exchange rates. The USD is quite high right now making it expensive to buy US goods outside of the US. A high US dollar is actually bad for US overseas trade, independent of taxes. On the other side, a weaker currency in other counties can have the same impact. In Australia, the same MacBook Pro is still more expensive than in the US, but about $400 USD cheaper than the Russian price. It does not look like Dell sells direct in Russia so I cant find a direct comparison.
Click to expand...
People like to freak out about pricing when there are a lot of other factors involved, like fx, tariffs, VAT, etc. Is this another Apple gouging thread? Because lots of things are priced differently by company for a lot of reasons. For you Americans, did you know Toyota Camry's cost $100k in Thailand? I don't understand the economics for each case, but they are often not fair to compare. Just remember that Apple did not always sell to every country and still don't. You have the option to buy Apple in Russia unlike other countries who HAVE to travel to buy their gear. I was looking for some serious strategy insight, and I got this post...
 
Pangalactic said:
Awesome, can you please provide a link? I'd love to see this amazing place where you can buy laptops for such cheap prices
Click to expand...

Dell's prices adjust moment to moment and this order was placed a couple of weeks ago. The current widely available promotion in my region has that configuration at $1799. That's still a full 20% less than your local pricing - compared to Apple's 25% premium. Hardly mind blowing.
 
Pangalactic said:
Hi.
So, as you all already probably know, the new Macbook Pro is super expensive, with the maxed out version selling for a crazy amount of $4300.


Ready to get your mind blown?

I live in Russia, and computers a usually a little bit more expensive here. Let's find out by now much, shall we?

So, here I am looking at a brand new dell XPS 15 9550, with QHD display, an Nvidia 960M, 16 gigs of RAM and a 521GB SSD.
It costs 138000 rubles on this website, which is 2131 USD:


image.png

image.png





Now let's look at the same model at the official Dell website:


image.png



it costs 2000 USD. So, it's approximately 6% more expensive in Russia.

Now let's look at the 2016 new Macbook Pro. On the official(!) Apple website, you can buy it for $4300, as we already know (which is 2x more expensive then the very similar Dell XPS, but that is not the point).


image.png


On the same official Apple Russian website, it costs 349000 rubles:


image.png


Can you guess how much it is? Seriously, take a guess before looking at the answer.


--------------------
*THINKING TIME*
--------------------





image.png


FIVE THOUSAND, THREE HUNDED AND EIGHTY SEVEN DOLLARS!!!
That is a 25 percent difference in prices!

Buying a Macbook in Russia has the exact same price as flying from Moscow to New York, staying there for a night, buying a US Macbook and flying back.

And the funny thing is - as we have just seen - that this has got nothing to do with the VAT or export duties or anything else, as very mysteriously the price increase affects the Apple devices only and nothing else.

But I think I can solve this mystery, and I know this reason.

It is the same reason why the new Macbooks are $200 more expensive, why there is no headphone jack in Iphone 7 and quite a few wireless "Beats" in Apple Stores, why we need their official dongles for everything, and why even connecting your brand new Iphone to your new Macbook has a little bit more Apple's money-magic than usual.

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

You don't need their dongles, it is using a standard port.
Those are not similarly specced. (But apple will still be more expensive).
 
zhenya said:
Hate to burst your bubble but I literally just last week purchased that identical XPS15 here in the States for $1529. So Dell is actually charging THIRTY percent more in Russia!

It's also kind of disingenuous to compare the top of the line MBP with a $1000 2TB SSD option to a standard mid-line XPS. It's $400 to upgrade the Dell to 1TB, and 2TB isn't even offered.
Click to expand...


zhenya said:
Dell's prices adjust moment to moment and this order was placed a couple of weeks ago. The current widely available promotion in my region has that configuration at $1799. That's still a full 20% less than your local pricing - compared to Apple's 25% premium. Hardly mind blowing.
Click to expand...

So not only are you unable to provide a link, but also have contradictions in your own posts. Wonderful :D
 
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My 13" Macbook Pro 2013 with a 512gb SSD cost around $2,100 (NZD) here in New Zealand. It was. a refurbished model, and the full priced one was around $2,400 (NZD) at the time. The new Macbook Pro 13" 512gb is $3,299 (NZD). A fully specced 15" model is $7249 (NZD) which, according to Siri, works out as $5125.26 (USD) . On top of that, Apple expects you to pay for dongles to get back the functionality they took away. To me that is so ridiculous price wise that I won't even consider it. I can get a top of the line gaming laptop for that kind of money.

I'll use my current Macbook Pro until it dies. By then hopefully Apple will have got their sh*t together.
 
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