When will Apple adjust their UK prices?

[Razzerman]

Back in January, 2017, Apple increased UK prices due to the pound/dollar rate.

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/01/17/apple-hikes-uk-app-store-prices/

Do you think Apple would be justified in leaving things as they are, or should they make an adjustment? And if so, when?

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

You mean you want Apple to give you stuff for free?

 

[Razzerman]

Lol, not quite. I'd like them to charge a fair price. They raised their prices for a reason, and now I think it's time they reduced their prices for the same reason (see pic).

 

[OllyW]

I don't think we'll see the same urgency from Apple to adjust the prices now the exchange rate favours the Pound. New releases and product refreshes will be priced according to current rate but I'm not sure we'll see a reduction to any of the products already on sale.

 

[Razzerman]

I fear you may be right. Seems more than a little unfair though. One more reason to start extricating myself from the Apple ecosphere.

 

[amt2002]

The HomePod price of £319 is 8% lower than the USD price (unlike all other products which are 0% different to USD), so assuming the exchange rates hold broadly steady, I would expect to see a similar discount across Apple's other products at some point in the not too distant future. Whilst they may hold off until the relevant products are refreshed, I do not necessarily think this will be the case. I mean, they upped the price of all Macs in Oct 2016 despite the fact several hadn't been refreshed. Though it did coincide with an apple event and other mac updates.

Over the past few days, the pound has strengthened massively against the dollar (1.42 today) so price decreases of 10%+ are absolutely possible at some point this year *IF* the pound remains strong!

 

[Razzerman]

The HomePod price of £319 is 8% lower than the USD price (unlike all other products which are 0% different to USD)

That's what I thought - it was $1 = £1, but not so on the Homepod thing. Thank you for this.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

That's what I thought - it was $1 = £1, but not so on the Homepod thing. Thank you for this.

Not true the iMac pro is slightly less at £4820 as well. Still £500 more when you account for tax and exchange rate but it’s not quite one to one.

 

[The_Interloper]

The UK prices are still steep but a lot of third-party sellers are at least heavily discounting from time to time. Argos, for example, currently has the MacBook Pro 13" at £100 off (from £1149 for nTB) and 15" at £200 off (from £2149). Up until last week they also had a 10% off discount code in addition to these prices, bringing the 15", for example, down to £1934, a whopping £415 off list price. This code applied right across the Mac range, including Minis, iMacs etc.

The likes of John Lewis etc were also reportedly price matching.

No good if you're after a custom config, of course, but there are cheaper prices to be had - you just need to keep an eye out. I picked up a 2013 Mac Pro from John Lewis for £1299 two weeks ago, complete with 2 year warranty. That's over £1100 less than a refurb with AppleCare!

 

[Razzerman]

I picked up a 2013 Mac Pro from John Lewis for £1299

Wow - that was a bargain - congratulations.

 

[The_Interloper]

Wow - that was a bargain - congratulations.

Yup, really pleased with it. They must have found a bunch of them in the corner of a warehouse somewhere. It was sealed but when I booted it up it had Mavericks installed! Wouldn't even update via the App Store; I had to make a USB stick with High Sierra. All good now though.

 

[RedTomato]

Apple changed some prices just now (not in the UK though)

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/01/25/apple-tax-pricing-changes-foreign-app-stores/
[doublepost=1516904152][/doublepost]Looking at usa prices, a top end Macbook Pro (not that I would buy one the way they are now) is GBP £2,700, and a USA one is USD $2,800. Converting the prices gives us GBP £2,700 = USD $3850 at the moment, which seems a lot, over USD $1000 difference, but a couple of things mean this isn't a true comparison.

Stripping out UK VAT, that puts the UK one at 2,700 / 1.20 = £2,250. Convert to USD = roughly $3,200. That's a roughly 15% difference in base prices, USD $2,800 in the USA and USD $3,200 in the UK. Call it the cost of having a viable education & health system (ba-dum) free at the point of use.

Next factor, lots of British people forget that USA buyers almost always have to pay various unlisted sales taxes on top (seriously guys, why are USA shops incapable of putting local taxes on their shelf display prices, it's not like a brick shop randomly moves around overnight). So let's add, at a guess 10% sales tax to the USA price. $2,800 x 1.10 = $3,080. That's roughly a 22% difference to the UK equivalent price of $3850.

For the $800 difference, it's true, you could almost fly to NYC, and clear a profit after buying a Macbook Pro inc sales tax. Just like in the good old days. That is, if you were able to somehow avoid the UK import duty that you should be declaring (many don't). For anything cheaper than a top-end 15" Macbook Pro, it isn't worth it.

 

[gnasher729]

I don't think we'll see the same urgency from Apple to adjust the prices now the exchange rate favours the Pound. New releases and product refreshes will be priced according to current rate but I'm not sure we'll see a reduction to any of the products already on sale.

Apple waited more than six months to adjust their prices when the pound dropped, while losing tons of money, and traders coming from the continent to buy cheap devices. You should be a bit patient.

 

[yellowbunny]

Wow - that was a bargain - congratulations.

I got one too!

I agree should lower the prices now...

 

[The_Interloper]

I got one too!

Out of interest - are you sticking with just the JL warranty or getting AppleCare? I'm a bit torn on whether it's needed.

 

[2979382]

Apple waited more than six months to adjust their prices when the pound dropped, while losing tons of money, and traders coming from the continent to buy cheap devices. You should be a bit patient.

OMG! Poor Apple. Let's all go ahead and set up a gofundme page for the poor folks. Must be hard for them after losing all that "ton of money"...

 

[Strelok]

OMG! Poor Apple. Let's all go ahead and set up a gofundme page for the poor folks. Must be hard for them after losing all that "ton of money"...

That’s what you got out of his comment? Wow.

 

[2979382]

That’s what you got out of his comment? Wow.

It's called sarcasm. We use it loads here in Ireland.
I got what he said just fine. What he said is that Apple while waiting a while to raise the prices "lost" tons of cash, aka made less profit than otherwise, so customers should wait until Apple recovers all that "loss" so they can reset the prices. Am I wrong?

 

[gnasher729]

It's called sarcasm. We use it loads here in Ireland.
I got what he said just fine. What he said is that Apple while waiting a while to raise the prices "lost" tons of cash, aka made less profit than otherwise, so customers should wait until Apple recovers all that "loss" so they can reset the prices. Am I wrong?

You are wrong. And living in Ireland, why would you care? You had six months where you could have travelled to NI and bought a Mac or an iPhone a lot cheaper.

 

[2979382]

You are wrong. And living in Ireland, why would you care? You had six months where you could have travelled to NI and bought a Mac or an iPhone a lot cheaper.

OK, so now that you have established that I am wrong, I cordially invite you to correct me, not just say that I am wrong. That helps no one, including your case. You believe Apple is entitled to its money? Fine. That IS what you are saying and you are entitled to your opinion, and so am I when I don't feel bad for Apple making a bit less money over a 6 month period on products that sell at a 50% profit margin anyway. Why do I care? Just because I live in Ireland, does not mean I don't care about the rest of the World, and believe it or not, I did not go to NI to buy any Apple products during that period. I got them online, from the Irish site, because we've no Apple store in Ireland, regardless of having Apple down in Cork.

I never understood people who blindly take a brand's side, for no good reason... I like Apple for a lot of things, but I don't always agree and condone their business practices.

 

[noQuestions]

Wow - that was a bargain - congratulations.

Awesome deal... which John Lewis was this?

 

[Razzerman]

Awesome deal... which John Lewis was this?

Dunno matey - it was The_Interloper and yellowbunny that grabbed themselves bargains. I checked JL online, but all gone now.
[doublepost=1517077708][/doublepost]

You believe Apple is entitled to its money?

I'd suggest the only people bothered about Apple getting more money are possibly people with a vested interest. But that isn't you or me

 

[yellowbunny]

Out of interest - are you sticking with just the JL warranty or getting AppleCare? I'm a bit torn on whether it's needed.

I bought super cheap AppleCare off ebay. Worth it for the extra year of cover.
[doublepost=1517093736][/doublepost]

Awesome deal... which John Lewis was this?

It was a Boxing Day sale. I bought one immediately but they actually had stock for around a week.

 

[The_Interloper]

Awesome deal... which John Lewis was this?

Here it is: https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/ap...m-john-lewis-was-2999-2864468#thread-comments

All gone now, I missed the initial online stock but JL had two left (!!!) in the UK and shipped one to me directly from a store.

I bought super cheap AppleCare off ebay. Worth it for the extra year of cover.

I ended up going for it as well - around £50 and after a quick phone call to Apple they registered it without a problem. Now covered until Jan 2021 - huge piece of mind and saves having to go through John Lewis if anything goes wrong.

I know this machine has its critics (rightly so in many cases) and it's never worth £3k+ in 2018 (if at all) but, my goodness, I love it. Yes, the design is deeply flawed but it's just stunning - one of those things that has to be seen in the flesh to be fully appreciated. I understand the frustrations of many pros, but for my work (writing, audio capture and light video editing) it's a thing of silent beauty.

 

[gnasher729]

OK, so now that you have established that I am wrong, I cordially invite you to correct me, not just say that I am wrong. That helps no one, including your case. You believe Apple is entitled to its money? Fine. That IS what you are saying and you are entitled to your opinion, and so am I when I don't feel bad for Apple making a bit less money over a 6 month period on products that sell at a 50% profit margin anyway. Why do I care? Just because I live in Ireland, does not mean I don't care about the rest of the World, and believe it or not, I did not go to NI to buy any Apple products during that period. I got them online, from the Irish site, because we've no Apple store in Ireland, regardless of having Apple down in Cork.

I never understood people who blindly take a brand's side, for no good reason... I like Apple for a lot of things, but I don't always agree and condone their business practices.

You are wrong, because you read my reply to another post but ignored the contents of that other post that I quoted, so anything you are reading into my post is a product of your mind only.