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Apple Increases Prices of Macs in U.K. By 20 Percent
- Jdam 10y agoUK people stop complaining. I can still fly from Berlin to London, buy the Mac there, fly back and still get kinda wasted on the amount I saved.
- m_mueller 10y agohmm maybe fly to Basel? I think Swiss Apple store prices are not much above the US.
- Jdam 10y agoBut then I'd have to avoid customs or pay an additional 15%.
- Grazester 10y agoAre you really going to declare your laptop and tell them you bought it in Switzerland? Avoiding customs with something like this seems effortless
- charlesdm 10y agoThere's always a risk of getting caught doing that though. For example: it's attractive to fly to Switzerland to buy an expensive mechanical watch to avoid VAT and save 20-25%+ on the purchase price. If you get caught however, the fines can be huge. Risk vs reward..
- ardacinar 10y agoSay, if you buy a laptop from Switzerland and don't unbox it in Switzerland, getting caught might be an issue. If you buy one in Switzerland, unpack it there (maybe log into it for the first time etc.) and then there is virtually no risk of getting caught. I mean, if you didn't declare that and customs find it, is the customs office go through all your credit card purchases or something(assuming that you didn't use cash)?
- charlesdm 10y agoI know for watches (e.g. you buy one + put it on), customs can ask to supply them with the original purchase invoice or some sort of transaction statement. It's probably easier with a laptop because you can put it in a bag, but nevertheless, it's not completely safe to do.
- wastedhours 10y agoInterestingly, if you move to Switzerland, for most household items they can demand you prove you've owned it for at least 6 months and that it's not been bought elsewhere and you've avoided paying local VAT on it. So although not the same direct situation, shows that they're pretty hot on cross border purchases, even if you unwrap it and say it's a used good.
- DocTomoe 10y agoDo you transport your laptop in it's original packaging? Not declaring is "Steuerhinterziehung", which is the one crime the state really does care about and which is punished comparatively to second-degree murder in Germany. You better declare. And if you cross the border with something even remotely newish-ly looking, you better have an invoice for that.
- Grazester 10y agoWait? Is it Switzerland enforcing this? Why should Switzerland care if you buy something there and dont pay taxes for it when you get to Britain? No I don't leave items bought abroad in their originally packaging. That would be counter productive of me if I was trying to avoid being taxed Bringing anything into my country is taxable also. See that nice outfit in your suitcase? It's taxable. Laptops are very taxable but I just leave it in my backpack since customs would not normally check my "personal bags"(hand bags and small backpacks) coming into my country. If you did not declare it and they find it they levy an additional charge on top of the taxes.
- DocTomoe 10y agoNope, target country enforces this. Which is a lot worse, because you usually have to live there. > Bringing anything into my country is taxable also. See that nice outfit in your suitcase? It's taxable Admitting to TAX EVASION on the net with a somewhat traceable account is probably a bad idea if you are living in a Country that actually operates on tax income (which some countries do not, Brunei comes to mind...) > If you did not declare it and they find it they levy an additional charge on top of the taxes. Actually, in the western world, you get put into prison for a few years.
- Grazester 10y agoI do live in the "western world" if you term the Americas that. My country isn't going to waste resources to hunt me down to get a couple dollars worth in taxes and they certainly aren't sending me to prison either ;)
- Jtsummers 10y agoI've often wondered. How effective is customs at actually collecting on things like that? I mean, if you come in with 3 or 4 laptops in the boxes, sure. But, using my girlfriend's situation as an example: She lives in Buenos Aires, iPhones and iPads are more expensive than in the US. If she travels here, picks up an iPhone and starts using it, how are they to know when she gets to customs that she bought it here and wasn't already traveling with it? They don't have a database of everything you left with. And she's already traveling with two phones (work and personal) most of the time anyways.
- systemtest 10y agoBased on the serial number they can see the manufacturing date. And because each market has a different model number (due to things such as power plug, wifi frequency restrictions, keyboard layout and such) it's easy to spot a "USA" model versus a "South American" model.
- Jtsummers 10y agoOk, that's reasonable. That still leaves the possibility that you declared it before which would imply needing to keep a record of the original customs declaration every time you travel?
- edko 10y agoIn theory, you have to "declare" the phone at the Customs Office when you leave Buenos Aires so that you can enter it back. They give you some kind of evidence that you can present when returning. Since I have never done it, I don't know if it is a sticker on the phone, or just an official form with the phone's serial number. In practice, your pockets are generally not checked when you enter the country.
- denzil_correa 10y agoHas this changed recently? I remember Swiss prices being pretty high than that of the US.
- m_mueller 10y agoSwitzerland has high prices in general, but as far as I can remember never for electronics.
- DocTomoe 10y agoVAT is Switzerland is around 8%, in Germany it's 19% - buying electronics in Switzerland is not a good idea for Germans.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- weinzierl 10y ago13 " TouchBar MacBook base Price is 1999 € in Berlin and 1749 £ (currently about 1952 €) in London. Maybe you will find a flight and manage to get wasted for 47 EUR in Berlin, but transfer from Southend to the next Apple Store will wreck your calculation.
- lorenzhs 10y agoI just checked, I can get from my place to central London and back for 47.80€ (so no savings). The cheapest flight to London from where I live is 26€ return (with Ryanair, to Stansted). Train to/from the airport here is 10.60€ , and from £10 (11.2€) for the bus into London and back. That's so cheap it's almost scary.
- beedogs 10y agoThey're clearly trying to get out of the computing business altogether. Phones, tablets, and other trinkets are where the money is.
- pc86 10y agoTIL a phone is a trinket and not a small computer.
- wyldfire 10y agoThis isn't some grand strategy, it's just a knee-jerk reaction to the FX risk/impact of Brexit. Business leaders say "hey man all our costs are anchored in USD but GBP are worth less than they used to be so now revenue in this region is down [due to factors far outside of our control]." So they debate about the market impact of raising prices and they seem to feel that their product is strong enough to endure (and/or the competition is already doing this or will follow them).
- seibelj 10y agoWhen your currency goes down, expect import prices to rise. It's really that simple
- keithpeter 10y agoAnd our economy grows slightly as we shift more stuff outside UK because the pricing becomes more attractive. Second order effect of course.
- dmichulke 10y agoUnless you have a negative trade balance. In that case your import prices rise more in absolute terms than your export prices. UK has a negative trade balance of 5bn GBP http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-trade http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-tr...
- danieldk 10y agoUntil/unless the UK is removed from the single EU market.
- blowski 10y agoWhen prices for imported electronic goods go up by 20% across the board, I'll agree that this is due purely to the currency shift. I don't see that happening.
- bartread 10y agoThat may depend when suppliers' contracts on currency hedges come to an end. The fact is the currency is down about 20% +/- so it's only a matter of time before that starts to filter through to prices on the high street. Apple are the first to move in this sector but I don't think they'll be the last. This is why all the talk of the economy "booming" (here I quote The Daily Express's headline from, I think, this morning) infuriates me. We haven't seen that much in the way of price rises yet but, when we do, consumer spending may well take a hit, and at that point the growth may begin to look less healthy (1). (And if that happens the same goldfish-memoried newspapers will bleat about how the economy's taking a beating, as if the signs aren't already there.) (1) Or perhaps it will balance out as exports remain strong due to the weak pound. Economics is hard.
- mpalfrey 10y agoDon't I know it. The prices for the specs are stupid and this is coming from someone with a 13" MBA for a personal machine and a 15" MBP for a work one. I can see myself ending up with a Dell XPS 13 or similar to replace the MBA and maybe a Lenovo P50 for a work machine. Win 10 isn't a bad OS especially with a native Bash terminal now!
- NickPollard 10y agoThe XPS 13 is a really nice machine - I use one full-time for work, although with Linux (Fedora) rather than Windows, and it's fantastic.
- technofiend 10y agoI like the native Linux support on the XPS 13 but it too tops out at 16GB of RAM with a 512GB SSD (Order Code cax15w10ph1603m). With all the VMs you can spin up playing with Docker, Kubernetes, etc the more RAM the better, man. If I configure nearly equal systems - i7 with 16 GB of memory and 512GB SSD, the premium for an Apple system stands at $700 ($1,799 versus $2,499 prior to a Dell 10% discount offered on their website.) I say "nearly equal" because the processor on Dell is quoted as "up to 3.5 GHz" and Apple's is 3.3GHz. The 16GB limitation is disappointing because according to Intel's ARK for the quoted Dell part (i7550u), max memory is 32 GB. http://ark.intel.com/products/95451/Intel-Core-i7-7500U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz- http://ark.intel.com/products/95451/Intel-Core-i7-7500U-Proc... Edit: According to wikipedia the top-end 13" MBP sports a i5-6567U but the apple configurator will let you select a 3.3 GHz i7 part. No idea which actual part it is. Anyone know?
- overcast 10y agoI'm not one to complain about paying for quality, but their pricing across the board is just getting ridiculous. There's no major innovation here to justify such price hikes. 16GB RAM limits on a $3200 laptop is bewildering to me. If the strategy here is to kill off the Mac brand, while focusing only on the iPhone, then I think they are well on their way. If it wasn't for the Mac OS, I wouldn't even bother considering their lineup anymore. Edit: Additional thoughts. That OLED touch bar is going to be the equivalent of force touch on the iPhone. Neat idea, that will be forgotten. Also, whose idea was it to make that track pad ENORMOUS? When has anyone ever wished they had a track pad that took up 2/3 of the palm area? I hope their palm sensing is 100% perfect.
- cmdrfred 10y agoI've been thinking about this lately. Microsoft is doing the same thing if you look at it's enterprise products. Low innovation, high cost seems to be the business model of late. I wonder if it has to do with the founders of the company leaving and the reins being placed in the hands of MBA types. It seems like Bill and Steve weren't as afraid of a bad quarter as the current leadership is and took more risks as such.
- overcast 10y agoPlausible. So if that's their intention, open up the OS to be put on ANY hardware, and stop fucking around with your loyal user base. I hate to break it to Apple, but the people making all of those silly apps for their iPhone, aren't developing them on the iPhone!
- dogma1138 10y agoSurface series and the hololens are non-innovative?
- cmdrfred 10y agoI liked the surface better when it was called the iPad. That said I was speaking about software products mainly, what was originally Microsoft's bread and butter. Windows 10 is just Windows 8 that spies on you more and includes advertising. I'll believe hololens when I see it, but that seems to be more of a Xbox product than something I'm going to see in someone's office any time soon.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- lunchladydoris 10y agoI'm confused. The chart says that local sales taxes are included. In the UK, VAT is 20%, so what's so strange about the price being 20% higher than in the US?
- tonyedgecombe 10y agoYes, I just checked their example for the MacBook Pro, $1299 in the US, £1249 in the UK which is $1500, the extra is accounted for by 20% VAT which vendors must include in their prices in the UK. However if I compare prices to the beginning of the year they are about 25% higher, an obvious affect of the currency movements.
- HalfwayToDice 10y agoExcept it's not because it rose 25% in all countries. Sorry.
- kgwgk 10y agoWhat rose 25% in all countries since the beginning of the year? The entry level macbook pro (ignoring "legacy" models) is 15% more expensive than the previous model in the US, 20% more expensive in Switzerland, 45% more expensive in the UK.
- furyg3 10y agoI'm also confused. Maybe it's an old chart? They say they 'raised' prices by 20%, and that VAT is included. Based on the chart, a MacBook is $38.80 cheaper in the UK than in the US (excluding VAT). So the real story is "Apple no longer gives 20% discount to the UK"
- pmlnr 10y agoVAT is always included in prices shown in Europe unless stated otherwise.
- ropiku 10y agoTotally right. The iPhone is even cheaper accounting for VAT. US (no tax) is 649$, UK (20% VAT) is £599=728$ compared to 649*1.2=778.8.
- Zenst 10y agoIf only companies were as quick to cut prices when a currency equally gains. They do not.
- trentnix 10y agoIt's a phenomenon I've noticed with gas prices. When the price of oil goes up, gas provides immediately follow. When the price of oil goes down, the price reduction seems to lag a bit. Maybe I'm imagining things, but that's the gist I got in the mid-2000s.
- s_kilk 10y agoLads, the Pound has dropped about 20% against the Dollar since the Brexit result in June. Cool it.
- danieldk 10y agoAnd so do Microsoft and others as the article states. As others have pointed out[1], if you add the UK sales tax and account for the exchange rate, Brits are paying virtually the same as north Americans. The real news is that the result of the Brexit and the GBPs 31-year low are now felt. [1] https://twitter.com/alexhern/status/791713383422697472 https://twitter.com/alexhern/status/791713383422697472
- neximo64 10y agoUsing the top range 15" MBP at default specs: IE - EUR 3,299.00 = 3602.39 USD DK - DKK 24.599,00 = 3593.48 PL - PLN 13,899.0 = 3501.63 USD DE - EUR 3.199,00 = 3493.20 USD FR - EUR 3.199,00 = 3493.20 USD SE - SEK 31495 = 3488.44 USD NZ - NZD 4,699.00 = 3352.01 USD GB - GBP 2,699.00 = 3270.46 USD AU - AUD 4,249.00 = 3217.66 USD CH - CHF 3,149.00 = 3167.53 USD CN - RMB 21,488 = 3167.59 USD JP - JPY 278800 = 2646.14 USD CA - CAD 3,499.00 = 2613.99 USD US Price - 2,799.00 USD. Interesting: - Best price is in Canada - Ireland has the most expensive in the single market - Cheapest in the EU still is in the UK (don't complain guys) - Cheapest in the single market in Switzerland.
- bergie 10y agoNote that European prices usually include VAT (sales tax), while in US it is usually added on top of the price.
- yoz-y 10y agoYes, but when you go through the checkout process and estimate the tax, then the 15" MacBook Pro still costs only $3050 compared to 3200€ ($3400). It is still quite more expensive in EU, even including the taxes.
- TheCoelacanth 10y agoEU tax rates are much higher, though. Going the opposite way, in France the price is $2911 before taxes, or only 4% higher than the US price. I would guess that the small remaining difference is due to the recent strong performance of the dollar.
- vetinari 10y agoThe EU tax rates are not that high, though, as is the difference in prices. There was such a difference even in years, when EUR performed way better than USD.
- phlo 10y ago
- audessuscest 10y agoIn France (Euro zone ?) prices are about 200€ more expensive than in dollar...
- danieldk 10y agoProbably not, did you account for US prices not including VAT? For example, the MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar is Euro 1699. This is $1855.31. VAT in Germany is 19%, so that makes the price without VAT $1559.08. So, that's $60 higher than the US price. In Germany, you pay a 10.55 Euro copyright levy. So, the difference is less than $50.
- kgwgk 10y agoAgain? [1] Ex-VAT the difference is just 3% (40 eur) for the entry model. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12808053 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12808053
- ommunist 10y agoLooks like I will switch to Linux for webdev and to Win for everything Adobe. Sad times.
- future1979 10y agoI got a windows laptop and am mostly happy. Wish I had a backup solution like time capsule.
- radarsat1 10y agoMan, Adobe still has no Linux products? This is 2016.. I thought we were "getting there"..
- gtbono 10y agoCreative Cloud on Ubuntu would be awesome, would suffice a lot of reasons I have to buy a Mac
- gtbono 10y agoI'm on that boat as well, hoping Bash on Windows becomes great too
- baconizer 10y agoSame here, I'm going to upgrade gaming pc's win10 and give Linux subsystem a go, if it works for POSIX dev environment I am finally leaving Mac after 15 years.
- mpweiher 10y agoSince beginning of the year, the British Pound has fallen from $1.55 to $1.25. Let's see, what is 1.25/1.55 ? 0.806452 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/11/12/twelve_month.stm http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/11/1... I think I know where that 20% came from. #Brexit.
- TimonKnigge 10y agoShouldn't they raise their prices by 25% to compensate for that though?
- HalfwayToDice 10y agoErrrr, UK prices for the Macbook Pro are the cheapest in Europe, even after the worldwide rise of 25%. So you are incorrect
- mpweiher 10y ago(a) What worldwide rise? (b) Since the increase is due to the exchange rate, yes, the relative price compared to other countries doesn't/didn't change. That's kind of how exchange rates work...
- HalfwayToDice 10y agoThe price of the Macbook Pro has risen in every country. This is an Apple price rise, not a UK exchange rate rise. I'm not sure what else there is to say? You are completely ignoring facts in front of you, and choosing single numbers that fit your pre-defined Brexit narrative. Reasoned debate with you is not possible. Sorry.
- ascorbic 10y agoThe prices in Britain for existing products are around 20% more than they were last week. Mac Pro is now £2,999, up from £2,499. The Mac mini is £479, up from £399. The Macbook Pro is a new model, so comparing the price for that is meaningless. And yes, if you convert all the prices into USD then the UK is cheap. People in the UK aren't paid in USD though, and it's the GBP price that has increased.
- 0x0 10y agoA maxxed out mbp costs €5000, this must be some kind of world record.
- snowwolf 10y agoThis headline is misleading/disingenuous. They are taking the difference between the base price in the US excluding taxes and the UK price including VAT to calculate the difference, rather than the difference between the NY price - which includes local sales taxes and is therefore a more accurate comparison. In which case the price increase is 'only' about 10% - which is still quite a bit but not what the headline would have you believe.
- salamander22 10y agoActually, the prices have been increased here in the UK. Example, the iMac model went up some £300 for no reason. The Mac Mini increased all models within the range by around 16%.
- snowwolf 10y agoYes, but the prices in the US have increased too. But in the table in the article, they are showing a 22% difference in price between US and UK for the Macbook Pro, which is not true.
- cryptrash 10y agoPlay stupid games, win stupid prizes, UK. Y'all check out some Chromebooks now, and maybe even consider some odroid products. I have a cardboard phone box with a little crappy USB fan ziptied onto it, a small keyboard and standalone 8" hdmi display. Fits into my lunchbox, can stream 1080p,do whatever I want, and for the price of the new MBP I can build ten more. Play stupid games...
- salamander22 10y agoWhat's the connection between the 'stupid game' and Chromebooks?
- jasonkester 10y agoA small price to pay for no longer having to label our strawberries.
- EliRivers 10y agoWe won't have to label our strawberries because they will rot in the fields for lack of fruit pickers :)
- riazrizvi 10y agoNothing to do with the 20% drop in the pound vs the dollar. Why won't Apple subsidize Brexit?
- HalfwayToDice 10y agoUK pricing for new Macbook Pro is cheapest in Europe. Sorry, what were you saying?
- riazrizvi 10y agoI'm sorry, I don't understand.
- ianpurton 10y agoThe pound has devalued against the dollar due to the Brexit. Apple records revenue in dollars so you need more pounds to buy the same kit so they can convert those pounds into their base currency. The good news is, if you're planning a trip to London from abroad then for a while consumer electronics are pretty cheap. i.e. Sony cameras etc.
- oarsinsync 10y agoFlagged, article has a misleading headline that is largely debunked in the comments (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12815204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12815204) showing that by and large the difference in price tracks extremely closely with the difference in sales tax in differing regions, despite the additional regulatory costs involved in doing business in those regions.
- salamander22 10y agoHow is it misleading that some Macs in the UK have increased since this time yesterday, despite not getting any updates?
- HalfwayToDice 10y agoIt's misleading because the Mac pricing has risen in EVERY country. HackerNews tends towards fact-based information, not politically biased stuff. The article was laughably trying to shoehorn in a Brexit narrative. And I'm already seeing the article being shared on Facebook. When it comes to Brexit, facts become irrelevant it seems.
- salamander22 10y agoJust checked the Wayback Machine for other few random countries (US, France) and the prices for the Mac Mini did not change yesterday evening, whilst in the UK the 3 Mac Mini options rose by between 15-16%. How do you explain this?
- m3ta 10y agoNeither the title of this thread nor the article linked touch on this subject.
- dep_b 10y agoMacBook prices went up in all of Europe, just like the iPhones went up in price. I feel a lot less bad about getting an "old" MacBook 2015 last year for the old prices. I think a lot of people would like to see the UK crash and burn because of their audacity to get out of the EU, but I don't think there will be much of a negative impact. If you see the kind of treaties the EU likes to sign with Canada or the US they absolute have no problems to follow the money eventually. It goes above all principles really. They will figure something out, the real problem is the EU doesn't want to make getting out of the EU look like an appealing idea so in the short run you will hear a lot of these negative stories.
- Melown 10y ago16gb limit is bullshit
- Melown 10y ago16gb limit is bullshit
- aq3cn 10y agoThey need fund for more R&D. It's good move to survive in near future. If they could bring anything new this time, it's okay. Tomorrow they may and some else may not. Competition is important.
- Tepix 10y agoThey have plenty of funds for R&D!
- wayanon 10y agoMy first PowerBook was £1749 I think in 2001 but I'd hoped we'd said goodbye to that kind of pricing at entry level.
- pierotofy 10y agoBreaking news: price of British pound drops by 20%
- Tepix 10y agoI had my credit card ready before the presentation to buy a MBPr13 to replace my slow Macbook Air 11. The new prices are laughable. Let's have a look at the Macbook compared to the Dell XPS 13 (9350-4891). Both have fast 512GB SSDs, 16GB RAM, backlit keyboards, all-day battery life Macbook Pro 13" Dell XPS 13 9350-4891 i5 2.9Ghz i7-6500U 2.5Ghz Iris Graphics 550 Iris Graphics 520 2560x1600 13.3" 3200x1800 13.3" slim bezel 1.37kg 1.29kg 4x TB 3 1x TB 3, 2x USB 3.0, SD Bluetooth 4.2 Bluetooth 4.1 AirPlay MiraCast 54Wh battery 56Wh battery Touchbar 2439€ 1428€ The price difference is more than 1000€! Also the Dell can be ordered with Linux instead of Windows 10 which means it will have good driver support there as well. It can even be used as a Hackintosh! Finally, the XPS 13 is also available with 7th generation i7 CPUs (with HD 620 gfx).
- otterley 10y agoA common mistake when determining the value of a depreciating asset is to value the asset on the sale price instead of the depreciation. For example, if the following are true: * Resale price of the MBP after 1 year: 2000€ * Resale price of the XPS after 1 year: 700€ Then the MBP is a better value, because you've spent ~400€ for a 1-year use of it, vs. ~700€ for a 1-year use of the XPS.
- Tepix 10y agoThat's certainly something to consider, however I plan to use it for three years at least. At that point they both have lost a lot of value but the difference will be less than 1000€ for sure.
- otterley 10y agoIf you get more than 3 years' worth of operating life out of a Dell XPS that gets significant mobile use, I will be very surprised.