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I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

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Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#41

Post by ksec »

wtmt wrote: post #13

A few comments on this from an Indian perspective. Apple products are quite expensive here too, when compared against U.S. prices (plus sales tax). It may seem as if this is because of customs duties, but that’s not the entire story. Many companies tend to have geographically differentiated pricing to expand their market and make more money. Even if the prices aren’t completely matching the local currency equivalent…

>What’s more ridiculous is that the prices don’t go down much even when Apple is assembling products locally

You still have to pay import tax on components made outside of India. The assembly line only get Apple some tax incentives.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#42

Post by afiori »

stavros wrote: post #36
lordnacho wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME this is one of the most common economic misconceptions that people have, to think that the economic cost of a tax is borne by whoever nominally pays it. Most people with no economics background will for example think that it's just companies that pay salary related taxes, or consumers who pay VAT. Those are both true in the accounting sense that the money is paid by those respective parties to the government but…

My dad had the same reaction when I told him that we'd pay the extra credit card fees. He said "the merchant pays those" and didn't seem to get my "where do you think the merchant gets the money from?" reply.

While all the money is coming from the customers this changes which customers pay and more and which pay less. The guy buying a whole month of grocery will pay less with (fair) explicit fees, the guy buying a single redbull would pay more.

Personally my problem with credit card fees is that they are generally not advertised and the costumer should easily be able to know how much they are going to get charged even before the checkout or ordering (this obviously applies to non VAT-included prices).

Merchants on the other hand should reject non-profitable payment options (in my country it is quite rude to try to pay a coffe with a visa/mastercard)

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#43

Post by laurencerowe »

gnicholas wrote: post #18

I would imagine local laws regarding warranties would also affect pricing. For example, in the US you get one year of warranty, and that's it. In some other countries, there are longer mandatory warranty periods for expensive items. Presumably part of the reason Apple products are more expensive in those countries is that they are on the hook for more warranty service. Interestingly, this means Apple might not care t…

I don't think better warranties explain it. In Europe where 2 year warranties are mandated UK prices for a MacBook Pro 14 base model (after excluding 20% VAT) are only 3.6% higher than the US price while German prices (after excluding 19% VAT) are 14% lower at current exchange rates. The Brazilian cash price (10% less than the headline price which includes financing on the Apple store) seems to be 25% higher than the US price after accounting for 17% sales tax and 60% import duty.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#44

Post by forty »

stavros wrote: post #36
lordnacho wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME this is one of the most common economic misconceptions that people have, to think that the economic cost of a tax is borne by whoever nominally pays it. Most people with no economics background will for example think that it's just companies that pay salary related taxes, or consumers who pay VAT. Those are both true in the accounting sense that the money is paid by those respective parties to the government but…

My dad had the same reaction when I told him that we'd pay the extra credit card fees. He said "the merchant pays those" and didn't seem to get my "where do you think the merchant gets the money from?" reply.

Depending on the product and the competition on the market of that product, the merchant might also take the extra fees from their margins rather than raise prices.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#46

Post by ZYinMD »

stavros wrote: post #36
lordnacho wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IME this is one of the most common economic misconceptions that people have, to think that the economic cost of a tax is borne by whoever nominally pays it. Most people with no economics background will for example think that it's just companies that pay salary related taxes, or consumers who pay VAT. Those are both true in the accounting sense that the money is paid by those respective parties to the government but…

My dad had the same reaction when I told him that we'd pay the extra credit card fees. He said "the merchant pays those" and didn't seem to get my "where do you think the merchant gets the money from?" reply.

It's the same when you try to buy a house in the US and you have to pay a realtor to represent you, who takes 3% of sell price as commission. You'd then bargain "I already found the house myself, I just need you to draft the offer, can you do it for less", and they'll reply "no, but don't worry, you only pay for the house, and our commission is paid by the seller".

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#47

Post by ksec »

iPhone 13 cost R$ 7,599.00, or Roughly $1500 in USD. Compared to $799 in US.

On a 30% Import Tax, and a maximum of VAT for Import product alone makes it ~$1250 already. For unstable currency ( comparatively speaking ) Apple tends to hedge at least 15% rate, that makes it around $1437. Apple tends to add a few pcenctage more for those countries with extra consumer protection. ( As in EUR ).

So I dont think it is that far off at all.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#48

Post by hutzlibu »

MaxikCZ wrote: post #40
windex wrote: post #29

Some parts of this price ecosystem would have looked different if Samsung had decided to straighten up their act and not shovel out crapware, adware, and nagware with their so called "Updates" for their lower end phones. It's a lost opportunity for Samsung. Apple gets to do this because their devices seem safer, easier, and faster to use right now.

I bought samsung earbuds. They worked flawlessly. From time to time, a software update comes. Every single time I look into change log only to read "Improved stability and security". Few updates ago, when I took out my buds, only one was playing. Till today I need to disconnect and connect my buds to make them both work. If only they would just leave the things as they were, or gave me option to rollback.. So much fo…

Oh, just be happy they do not have (yet) updated to integrate advertisement into them.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#49

Post by legofr »

dhosek wrote: post #8

Even before I clicked the link, I was sure the answer was Brazil. It's not so much the taxes that raise the prices as the tariffs (which are kind of invisible taxes in that they are paid through higher prices rather than directly—which is part of what made a former president's boasting about raising tariffs somewhat absurd. It seemed he believed that the exporting country paid the price of the tariffs and not domesti…

If your market is large enough and the tariffs are high enough then it seems logical that tariffs will force the companies to manufacture their goods elsewhere to stay competitive and increase revenue.

Short term the tariffs are likely paid for by the exporting country, company and/or consumer (there's a limit to how much you can pass on to the consumer), whereas long term the goods will be manufactured/assembled in another country.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#50

Post by fareesh »

My friends in California enjoy railing against systemic racism except when it's a system that results in my fellow Indians and myself paying more money for the same iPhone. Obviously it's because of import duties and taxes which have nothing to do with Apple, but I'm sure the richest company in the world that is committed to the cause of social justice can find a way to make the pricing fair ;)
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