Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

nukeni.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 53 posts

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#31

Post by arthurmorgan »

alpaca128 wrote: post #15
tyoma wrote: post #5

The US price is pre-tax while others look post-tax. Also at least in the EU there is a longer warranty.

Apple's warranty in the EU is not any longer. The 2-year "warranty" required by law is not the same and only covers defects existing from the time of purchase, and after 6 months the burden of proof falls to the customer. In practice I've never seen this play out because almost all manufacturers (with Apple being an exception) offer 2-3 years of full warranty here either way.

It depends. If you've bought your device from Apple, defects will be covered by them in this 2-year period. At least this was my experience in Germany. Two times I encountered a very helpful Genius that issued a repair although my 1-year warranty was up.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#32

Post by wodenokoto »

Yizahi wrote: post #28
wodenokoto wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not just VAT. There are also import duties, taxes on salaries and land (there’s at least a warehouse, maybe also a physical store as well as a few pair of hands in play along the value chain of selling an iPhone in Sweden) Maybe salaries in Sweden are higher than us as well.

Apple tech sold in USA is also manufactured overseas, and should be subject to shipping, imports, salaries and so on.

Yes and the difference of those adds to the difference of the end price.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#33

Post by larsnystrom »

wodenokoto wrote: post #23
larsnystrom wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swedish VAT is 25%, but the price is ~35% higher than the US. I think this is because the Swedish krona has lost value against the dollar over the last year, but I don’t think Apple has actually raised prices in Sweden (for the previous iPhone lineup).

It’s not just VAT. There are also import duties, taxes on salaries and land (there’s at least a warehouse, maybe also a physical store as well as a few pair of hands in play along the value chain of selling an iPhone in Sweden) Maybe salaries in Sweden are higher than us as well.

I don’t think those things matter much on the whole, and I also think Swedish (tech) salaries are actually lower than what they’re paying in the US.

But the Swedish krona has lost ~22% against the USD in a year. So a 10% margin seems pretty reasonable given they haven’t raised prices during that year and nobody knows how the currency will fluctuate the upcoming year.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#34

Post by fareesh »

In the laptop market, Apple seems to be a better value purchase, but for some reason the smartphone market seems to be a huge premium for not much value compared to the competition.

I understand that in western countries there are network effects like iMessage, etc. A good Samsung or stock android-ish phone almost always seems like a more versatile/capable device.

There was a time when I heard that there were great iOS only apps but I don't know of any in 2022.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#35

Post by glenngillen »

pjmlp wrote: post #26
alpaca128 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's warranty in the EU is not any longer. The 2-year "warranty" required by law is not the same and only covers defects existing from the time of purchase, and after 6 months the burden of proof falls to the customer. In practice I've never seen this play out because almost all manufacturers (with Apple being an exception) offer 2-3 years of full warranty here either way.

Apple can try to be the exception, except most European have consumer protection agencies that will do the right thing when consumers fill a complaint. That is how I canceled my Vodafone contract, while Vodafone was playing word games on me and refusing to accept my rights as consumer. After filling a complaint, and getting a call from the consumer goverment agency, apparently it was all in order to cancel the contra…

Similar story in Australia. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what a manufacturer says the official warranty is (for a consumer purchase), they can’t reduce the statutory rights to be less just because it’s in the warranty fine print. Though there’s also not an official list of “this device has a statutory warranty guaranteed of X years”, it’s left to be whatever is determined to be a reasonable expectation based on the price of the item, expected use, and a handful of other factors. I’ve not had to test it with an iPhone specifically, but I’d suspect it that a >$2000 device would be an easy case to make for a reasonable expectation of working beyond 2 years.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#36

Post by tpush »

alpaca128 wrote: post #15
tyoma wrote: post #5

The US price is pre-tax while others look post-tax. Also at least in the EU there is a longer warranty.

Apple's warranty in the EU is not any longer. The 2-year "warranty" required by law is not the same and only covers defects existing from the time of purchase, and after 6 months the burden of proof falls to the customer. In practice I've never seen this play out because almost all manufacturers (with Apple being an exception) offer 2-3 years of full warranty here either way.

Don't know why you're downvoted; At least for Germany that's exactly the situation.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#37

Post by voxadam »

sauerbraten wrote: post #12

Not sure if the site was updated, but there are multiple comments here about sales tax missing for the US price. The site clearly states it added that tax for Canada and the US, and shows two prices for each country reflecting the lowest and highest tax applicable based on where you buy the phone.

A lack of state sales tax is part of the reason that the Apple Store in Portland, Oregon sells so many iPhones (in quantity) to tourists (particularly from Asia). Well, that and the fact that Portland is on the West Coast and has an international airport. They sell a lot of laptops and desktop computers to the same clientele but iPhones are the major draw.

Source: A close friend in management at the Portland store.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#38

Post by vladvasiliu »

fareesh wrote: post #34

In the laptop market, Apple seems to be a better value purchase, but for some reason the smartphone market seems to be a huge premium for not much value compared to the competition. I understand that in western countries there are network effects like iMessage, etc. A good Samsung or stock android-ish phone almost always seems like a more versatile/capable device. There was a time when I heard that there were great i…

> There was a time when I heard that there were great iOS only apps but I don't know of any in 2022.

Scenic, a motorcycle navigation app [0]. They've been working on an Android version for a while now, but as far as I'm aware it's still not done.

I'm more or less in the market for a new phone, since my iPhone 7 is getting long in the tooth. I've looked at Android, but I'm afraid they won't be supported for as long as my iPhone (which is more than 5 yo and running the latest iOS – don't know if the upcoming release next week supports it, though). I also don't know what the durability / water resistance situation is on non-flagship devices [2]: it must be able to work for hours on end in the rain or sun.

I don't use my phone much, basically only for GPS and... calling people (on the phone). So, I'd hate to be forced to upgrade a perfectly good phone just because it hasn't seen in update in three years [1].

---

[0] https://scenic.app/

Its main shtick is being able to offer "curvy" navigation, meaning not the quickest / fastest way between points A and B.

[1] I know about alternative ROMs, I used to run one, but I'm past that. I want an appliance-like phone, and for that, the iPhone is best in my eyes.

[2] I know flagship devices have got this down, I used to own a Galaxy S5 which was great. But at that point, it's going to be as expensive as an iPhone, so I might as well get that. iOS gets out of my way like I could only dream about while on Android.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#39

Post by schuke »

fareesh wrote: post #34

In the laptop market, Apple seems to be a better value purchase, but for some reason the smartphone market seems to be a huge premium for not much value compared to the competition. I understand that in western countries there are network effects like iMessage, etc. A good Samsung or stock android-ish phone almost always seems like a more versatile/capable device. There was a time when I heard that there were great i…

There are many factors. Where I live, for example. Most apps are developed for mobile only. When you don’t have a desktop version of many essential applications, it justifies a more expensive phone. When I divide the price by the amount of time I spend on the device, it seems the results are somewhat equal between the laptop and the iPhone.

Re: iPhone 14: Cheapest Country to Buy in 37 Countries

#40

Post by mrtksn »

febeling wrote: post #7

What's up with prices in Turkey?

It's not the exchange rates, it's the tax rates. About half of the price is a combination of various taxes.

In Turkey, after the 1999 Earthquake disaster they introduced "luxury consumption tax" or ÖTV on pretty much everything that is not essential goods, which is compounding with VAT(you first add the ÖTV, then you add VAT to the total amount).

To enforce the sky high tax on stuff like mobile phones, carriers are required to register every single IMEI with the government(the pretext was that they are doing it against terrorist who might use phones to do nasty things). So, if you buy a phone from abroad you can use it for 3 months(was extended to 1 year during the pandemic) and then carriers block your phone until you personally register your IMEI with the government. The registration fee is absurd(200$ at the last update) and you can do it once every 2 years and the phone can be used only with the number you registered with.

Also, Apple(which has multiple Apple Store's in Turkey) is prohibited to provide repairs to phones bought from abroad.

Post reply on HN