Apple iPhone's most ridiculous pricing of iPhones

[PeterBocan]

Hello guys, I want to point out that Apple has changed it's pricing policy and it got A LOT pricier for people outside of the USA. I have no idea why, whether it's the tariffs between the USA and China, or the Apple's tax evasion from the EU bureaucrats, but Apple iPhones got about 25-35% bump in already pricey iPhones, on top of the very thick Apple margin. I am based in the Czech Republic, so the conversion rate for CZK for 1 USD is around 22 CZK. 

So here is the comparison of newly released iPhones, (Czech prices are in the brackets, after the conversion):

• Apple iPhone XR pricing is $749 ($1013) for 64GB, $799 ($1080) for 128 GB, and  $899 ($1215) for 256 GB
• Apple iPhone Xs pricing is $999 ($1350) for 64GB, $1149 ($1553) for 256 GB, and $1349 ( $1823) for 512 GB 
• Apple iPhone Xs Max pricing is $1099 ($1485) for 64GB, $1249 ($1688) for 256 GB, and $1449 ($1958) for 512 GB 

Yes, you see it correctly, Apple sells the biggest and the largest phone for almost $2k USD in the Czech Republic - at this point it should have had a contact list of billionaires built in.

Apple's little addendum at the end of the page says in Czech, that the price includes 21 % VAT (Czech Republic), doesn't include the price of delivery (???) and because Apple Distribution International is based in Ireland, the software download tax which are taxed as services (seems like an Ireland's tax) is 23 %. 

Just for comparison, the biggest and largest Samsung S9 are sold in the Czech Republic for 990$ for 64GB, 1125$ for 256 GB and Samsung S9+ for 1125$ for 64 GB and 1215$ for 256 GB (with VAT included).

I do wonder, did it change in your respective country? Is it only the EU thing?

 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

iphone Xs max 512gb is €1659, or USD $1939... 

i'm in the netherlands. 

[asus killer]

Americans don't have the VAT, so there's the difference. But come on if you are looking at prices you probably shouldn't be buying a 2000$ phone anyway.

 

They also all buy there phones subsidized through phone companies, so they really don't care about prices as much as in Europe were we buy them ourselves.

 

[PeterBocan]

2 minutes ago, asus killer said:

Americans don't have the VAT, so there's the difference. But come on if you are looking at prices you probably shouldn't be buying a 2000$ phone anyway.

 

 yes, that's true, but when USD-EUR had a better conversion rate, but Apple set it that 1 USD was 1 EUR even if the rate was 1 USD for 0.7 EUR. 

I am not buying it anyways, but just pondering about the ridiculousness of the price.

[suicidalfranco]

3 minutes ago, PeterBocan said:

Hello guys, I want to point out that Apple has changed it's pricing policy and it got A LOT pricier for people outside of the USA. I have no idea why, whether it's the tariffs between the USA and China, or the Apple's tax evasion from the EU bureaucrats, but Apple iPhones got about 25-35% bump in already pricey iPhones, on top of the very thick Apple margin. I am based in the Czech Republic, so the conversion rate for CZK for 1 USD is around 22 CZK. 

So here is the comparison of newly released iPhones, (Czech prices are in the brackets, after the conversion):

• Apple iPhone XR pricing is $749 ($1013) for 64GB, $799 ($1080) for 128 GB, and  $899 ($1215) for 256 GB
• Apple iPhone Xs pricing is $999 ($1350) for 64GB, $1149 ($1553) for 256 GB, and $1349 ( $1823) for 512 GB 
• Apple iPhone Xs Max pricing is $1099 ($1485) for 64GB, $1249 ($1688) for 256 GB, and $1449 ($1958) for 512 GB 

Yes, you see it correctly, Apple sells the biggest and the largest phone for almost $2k USD in the Czech Republic - at this point it should have had a contact list of billionaires built in.

Apple's little addendum at the end of the page says in Czech, that the price includes 21 % VAT (Czech Republic), doesn't include the price of delivery (???) and because Apple Distribution International is based in Ireland, the software download tax which are taxed as services (seems like an Ireland's tax) is 23 %. 

Just for comparison, the biggest and largest Samsung S9 are sold in the Czech Republic for 990$ for 64GB, 1125$ for 256 GB and Samsung S9+ for 1125$ for 64 GB and 1215$ for 256 GB.

I do wonder, did it change in your respective country? Is it only the EU thing?

 

Italian prices, 

XS starts at 1387$

XS Max at 1504$

XR at 1037$

 

upper variants add 117$

[Brooksie359]

2 minutes ago, PeterBocan said:

 yes, that's true, but when USD-EUR had a better conversion rate, but Apple set it that 1 USD was 1 EUR even if the rate was 1 USD for 0.7 EUR. 

I am not buying it anyways, but just pondering about the ridiculousness of the price.

That has kinda always been the case for hardware so for it to happen with tech kinda makes sense. You also have to factor in the fact that us pricing is before any taxing and we don't get taxed at some thing ridiculous like 20+%. 

[PeterBocan]

Compared to previous year's flagship iPhone X 64GB was sold for 1215$ in the Czech Republic, and 1440$ for 256 GB version, VAT included. So we are talking about 200+ $ jump. 

Anyhow, this pricing policy is making Apple products unreachable for the people. 

[GoodBytes]

Not Tech News - Moved out.

Apple did not change its pricing policy they are the same.

 

Apple follows (And Samsung premium phones):

• We have a product, we don't care how much it actually cost to produce... how much people are willing to pay? That is the amount we will sale our phone. We have a target price set, Marketing team, ensure that we reach our goals!

Typical company for most things:

• Price is determined by: Manufacturing cost + R&D cost + projected marketing cost that would be needed and needs now + company operation costs + support cost + warranty cover cost + profit margins = Price of product -> Round up to a nice number and that would be the MSRP.

 

Apple knows that:

• In the US and Canada most consumers, and growing number outside (but still a minority outside), consumers tend to get phones that are "0$" or some nominal fee, to have their plan subsidize it. Mixed with high carrier bonuses and margins, ensure that carriers pushes iPhone's to consumers, and have interesting plans. Beside, the sale pitch for many for the higher price is probably going to be "Oh it is just a coffee a day more on my plan!", or increase the down payment when they get it, whichever they pick.
   
• Their phones and products are, to a degree, a fashion statement/social status, their highest end models are used to as a showoff device for the targeted market ("look at me! I am rich! I got the new 512GB model XS Max!" type of thing. This is is usually targeted at the rich people who like to show off how successful they are to others.)
   
• Consumerism has pushed consumers to feel bad that their 2 year old phone is now old. Even though it is perfectly capable of doing everything they want and more, they want the latest and greatest. This is pushed further by manufactures embedded the battery in their device so make battery replacement a chore so that you think it is not worth it, and buy the latest.
   
• You are used to iPhone, you'll get an iPhone. People (in mass) tend to not change their phone. Retention of phone ecosystem market is very strong these days, people feel that they are invested in an ecosystem and switching may be costly. This is helped thanks to app purchases that are not transferable between app Stores  between ecosystems.

 

And as mentioned. due to the complications in taxes in US and Canada, VAT is not included in the price of products. As sales taxes not only varies between countries, but also state/province, down to even cities/counties. It's complicated, so it is not calculated in the MSRP price. In Europe and other countries, sales taxes, or VAT, is included in the price. Also, you need to keep in mind the currency exchange and transportation cost. If you live in an island and stuff can only be shipped by plane. Then a good chance stuff in your island are pretty expensive. Also, you have market economies. If the minimum wage is 1 million dollars a day. a good chance that your chocolate bar won't be 1$ where you are, even if it is sold at such price at other places. If typically people make less than 1$ per month, a good change than the chocolate bar will be in the pennies.

[PeterBocan]

@GoodBytes yes, and I dont dispute that but salaries in Europe are completely different than in the US. So, getting 200-300$+ bump in a price is quite a decisive point to go with the last gen iPhone X or go full Android. 

@huilun02 and I have iPhone SE and I am completely fine with it. No worries there, but the phones are getting more and more pricey, thinking I may switch to Samsung.

[GoodBytes]

2 minutes ago, PeterBocan said:

@GoodBytes yes, and I dont dispute that but salaries in Europe are completely different than in the US. So, getting 200-300$+ bump in a price is quite a decisive point to go with the last gen iPhone X or go full Android. 

@huilun02 and I have iPhone SE and I am completely fine with it. No worries there, but the phones are getting more and more pricey, thinking I may switch to Samsung.

So what? Don't buy it then. Do your current phone take nice pictures? Do you care about taking better pictures? Does it still surf the web? does it still make phone calls and text? Yes! Great! Keep what you have, change the battery, or buy used, or get something you can afford which will probably still be better than what you have.

 

But then again, a human psychological flaw is that we want to get what we can't get. The shiny carrot (thanks to marketing) is in front of us, and will so what we can to reach it. So you'll either save the money to get it, or spend more on your plan to get it, and show your purchase to all your co-workers and friends as it was a big achievement for you. Even if money could have been better spent. And if it was a real stretch for you, you'll get buyer remorse and start defending your poor purchase instead of taking it as a life lesson to learn more about oneself, and next time, not to fall on the trap. There is nothing wrong in falling on this. I do, many do... its human nature.

[Mooshi]

Since when are proper conversions ever used? 

[SolarNova]

As far as im concerned, spending more than £200 on a phone is idiotic. its a friggin phone.

 

That being said the thing that annoys me more, is this trend of Mobile Phone manufactuers using OLED displays. STOP USING OLED's FOR PHONES !!!.

 

Seriosly, its giving the OLED tech a bad rep. OLED is the worst possible display tech to use for a phone. Phones have some of the most static images displayed of any device, only beaten by static advertisment displays. OLED's on phones WILL burn in, and with so many mobiles out their with OLED, its giving OLED a bad rep. The amount of times i hear people saying, "oh im not getitng a OLED TV, and i dont think a OLED monitor is a good idea becouse my mobile has an OLED and its got massive screen burn" is crazy.

 

Stop buying OLED display mobiles.. PLEASE, they WILL burn in on a mobile due to the static UI's.

 

So, if you must spend loads of money on a phone, and it has to be a new apple phone. Get the one with the LCD screen and avoid OLED please

[GoodBytes]

14 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

As far as im concerned, spending more than £200 on a phone is idiotic. its a friggin phone.

 

That being said the thing that annoys me more, is this trend of Mobile Phone manufactuers using OLED displays. STOP USING OLED's FOR PHONES !!!.

 

Seriosly, its giving the OLED tech a bad rep. OLED is the worst possible display tech to use for a phone. Phones have some of the most static images displayed of any device, only beaten by static advertisment displays. OLED's on phones WILL burn in, and with so many mobiles out their with OLED, its giving OLED a bad rep. The amount of times i hear people saying, "oh im not getitng a OLED TV, and i dont think a OLED monitor is a good idea becouse my mobile has an OLED and its got massive screen burn" is crazy.

 

Stop buying OLED display mobiles.. PLEASE, they WILL burn in on a mobile due to the static UI's.

 

So, if you must spend loads of money on a phone, and it has to be a new apple phone. Get the one with the LCD screen and avoid OLED please

Agreed. But for many consumers, it introduced them to OLED, especially that OLED TVs were for a number of years, even now, out of reach for most consumers. That said, since the Zune HD (the first mass consumer product with an OLED display), you can see how OLED has moved a lot. Beside cost drop, OLED is more durable then before (still far from ideal, but it was pretty bad before), brighter without sacrificing its "ink black" blacks, and wide gamut color space (although IPS panels can do this with proper backlight, most consumers have the 150-200$ TN panel on their desk. And being able to reproduce 1.07 billion colors to start with, it help consumer enjoy what a good display is.

 

But yes, burn in is very much of an issue on OLED, still today. Even on TVs if you watch a lot of news with their news bar at the bottom and/or sides, will 'cause burn in. Burn in, is, in my opinion, a poor terminology, as OLED wears, and that is why you see "burn in", there is no cure beside wearing all the not affected OLED for the same amount of time so that it is all evenly worn out. The moment a OLED sub pixel color illuminate its color start to shift. Of course you can argue that on phone, as they are used mostly outside, their brightness is on the max more often accelerating the wear of OLED compared to a TV. but still.

 

[iRileyx]

£749 for the 64gb XR in the UK, converts to roughly $980 lol. 

[SolarNova]

I wouldn't say its a poor technology. Infact, based on a VDU's primary purpose, OLED is the best current display technology available. LCD is such a poor VDU technology, it is technicaly worse than previouse tech such as CRT and Plasma, both fo which if they continued to advance with increased resolution would produce a better picture than current LCD. Some still do anyway regardless of resolution. (last gen Plamsa TV's and high end CRT's monitors like the Sony GDM FW900)

 

The problem comes in when you start attributing non display vital categories to the rating of a display tech. Such as power consumption, wear, and physical size, these kind of things forced VDU tech to sacrifice picture quality. LCD became prevalent, sacrifice viewing angles, blacks, overall contrast, input lag and pixel response issues, all for the need to make thiner and more energy efficent screens. Some LCD panel types can negate a few of these issues but they themselve then suffer from another of those issue even more so.

OLED is the natural progression to fix these sacrifices by introducing only 1 drawback, 'burn-in' (or rather 'burn out' as it is not the same as Plasma and CRT 'burn in'). That 1 draw back is ,imo,worth it if it means pixel response, input lag, viewing angles, contrast, black levels etc can once again be brought back to or even exceed CRT and Plasma levels. Just liek with Plasma, 'burn-in' can be limited and even totaly avoided simply by changing use habits.

 

Ofcourse this all becomes harder to explain to consumers when their primary experience with the technology is with mobile devices where OLED is most certainly at its weakest, hugley exagerating the 'burn-in' issue.

[beavo451]

Lol. Some of the biggest fallacies are that it's "just a phone" and it's a fashion accessory. 

 

Nobody cares what phone you have. And smartphones are phones in name only.