Apple again corrects for fluctuating dollar, raises Mac prices in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, mo

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited October 2015
As part of a continued effort to stabilize product pricing amid an unstable world economy, Apple this week upped costs for its Mac lineup in at least seven countries as the value of local currencies fell against the dollar.


New Zealand MacBook price change.


The recent pricing shift affects MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and Mac mini models sold through Apple's online stores in Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Thailand. This is the second price hike for Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

As spotted by MacRumors, New Zealand market pricing for Apple's new 12-inch MacBook with Retina display has jumped from NZ$1,999 to NZ$2,399 at launch to NZ$2,399 to NZ$2,899, a roughly 20 percent increase. Entry level Mac mini models moved from NZ$749 to NZ$899, Mac Pro moved from NZ$4,499.00 to NZ$5,699.00, while the 11-inch MacBook Air now costs NZ$1,599, up from NZ$1,399.

Comparative 12-inch MacBook pricing, Malaysia saw a 24 percent increase with base models now selling for 5,899 Malaysian ringgits, up from 4,769 ringgits, while Norway prices rose 19 percent from 12,590 krones to 14,990 krones. Brazil saw its prices adjusted up 47 percent, with 12-inch MacBooks previously selling for 8,499 Brazilian reals now coming in at 12,499 reals. Mac prices in Australia rose about 11 percent, while Mexico saw an increase of 17 percent.

Apple periodically adjusts international prices in response to fluctuations in the global economy, which has recently seen tumultuous change. Earlier this year, a strengthening U.S. dollar precipitated hardware price increases across Europe and Canada. Digital content sales are also impacted by foreign exchange headwinds, as evidenced by the rise of minimum App Store prices in Canada, the U.K and the European Union in January.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    I'll bet demand for Apple's products is fairly inelastic, so they should be well able to combat currency depreciation with price increases and not need to rely solely on currency hedging strategies, which is the only tool available to most of Apple's competitors.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    I think Macs in Ireland have increased in price too. The iMac seems to have.

  • Reply 3 of 20
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    Wow. I'd be interested to see if apples computing devices are in fact inelastic.

    The top of line 15 Mbp was 2600 when I bought it. Apple replaced it with this years equivalent when it was 3399. Now its a couple hundred more.
    I do pretty well for myself and it was difficult to justify the 2600. Now it's 3799 there no way I'd buy it.

    Our salaries don't change because the cross rate does. Be curious to see how this plays out but were unlikely to ever know.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    rayzrayz Posts: 814member

    Does Apple ever adjust prices downward?

  • Reply 5 of 20
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    djsherly wrote: »
    Wow. I'd be interested to see if apples computing devices are in fact inelastic.

    The top of line 15 Mbp was 2600 when I bought it. Apple replaced it with this years equivalent when it was 3399. Now its a couple hundred more.
    I do pretty well for myself and it was difficult to justify the 2600. Now it's 3799 there no way I'd buy it.

    Our salaries don't change because the cross rate does. Be curious to see how this plays out but were unlikely to ever know.

    Not sure a new model can be called equivalent. The price adjustment from 2600 to 3399 likely is associated with some meaningful enhancement in the newer higher-priced model (perhaps Retina display?), so the comparison you are making should only rrefer to the 3399 to 3799 adjustment. Bringing the 2600 price for the previous model into the discussion only creates in the mind of the reader a false base from which the latest price seems much higher.
  • Reply 6 of 20



    you nailed it - currency will correct to a mid point ... and will have nice wider margins -

  • Reply 7 of 20
    rayz wrote: »
    Does Apple ever adjust prices downward?

    Yes. Though as the dollar has been doing doing well not recently.
  • Reply 8 of 20
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member

    If most of Apple's component and labor costs are in China and other Asian countries - which have not appreciated against the countries' currencies where prices have been raised, what forces Apple's hands on raising prices there?



    And contrawise, if Apple's goods procurement costs are dropping in the US via currency fluctuations, why aren't we seeing corresponding price decreases for Mac and i-goods over here?  Or at least, since Apple's a world-wide corporation, somewhere??



    Enquiring minds just want to know.....

  • Reply 9 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sog35 View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rayz View Post

     

    Does Apple ever adjust prices downward?


     

    ever.single.year.

     

    iPhone6 is cheaper this year than last


    Is that true? Every single year?

     

    While the iPhones get better every year, they have maintained the same pricing structure for years. $199 for the low end on-contract and $649 off contract, and the prices go up from there depending on storage and screen size.

     

    One would expect to get more memory, performance, screen resolution, etc. for the same price as the years wear on, just like with computers, televisions and other consumer electronics.

     

    The only times Apple actually reduced the price of the iPhone as far as I can tell was with the first generation where they reduced the price from $599 to $399 for the on-contract 8 gig two and a half months after it came out. And then with the 3g release (second year for the iPhone) they went to the current pricing structure of $199 for the low end 8 gig (where 16 gig is currently the low end) and $299 for the high end 16 gig  (where 64 gig is currently the next option up for $299). At the same time they started selling the first gen for $99.

  • Reply 10 of 20
    Not sure a new model can be called equivalent. The price adjustment from 2600 to 3399 likely is associated with some meaningful enhancement in the newer higher-priced model (perhaps Retina display?), so the comparison you are making should only rrefer to the 3399 to 3799 adjustment. Bringing the 2600 price for the previous model into the discussion only creates in the mind of the reader a false base from which the latest price seems much higher.

    I don't think so. That said, a top of the line 15" wasn't the top of the line - which was actually the 17" most likely.

    I went from the 2600ish 15" to the 3200ish 17" and since then have had the top of the range 15" retina late 2013 and the 2015 15" retina top spec

    as far as inelastic sales go.. I can only but disagree for myself if no one else.

    I was going to sell my 2015 model and jump to skylake and then move into a 3 year cycle again

    but at $4200 with Apple Care it is no longer an upgrade of value, no matter what the tech in it is.

    I have intentionally not for example purchased a 27" Retina or a MacPro because $3500 is enough.

    That is already $3.20 a day - the jump is 3.80, 60c

    Sounds small but when i consider the resale value of my machine it makes more sense to hold on to it because if I try and sell it the buyer won't rationalise that I can now ask a $500 premium for second hand just because they would still be saving themselves the same amount in their decision to not get the new model.

    The test I guess for me will come at that time and what the apple refurbished price is of mine compared.. because that is what people looking at top spec laptops compare against. Obviously I'm not trying to sell to the bargain hunter
  • Reply 11 of 20
    curiously the prices of iPhones and other items have not jumped - it seems to have only impacted Macs and AppleCare from my quick look.

    oh and I am in Australia
  • Reply 12 of 20
    rayz wrote: »
    Does Apple ever adjust prices downward?

    Not in the U.S. Unless it's a refurb model
  • Reply 13 of 20
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    Not sure a new model can be called equivalent. The price adjustment from 2600 to 3399 likely is associated with some meaningful enhancement in the newer higher-priced model (perhaps Retina display?), so the comparison you are making should only rrefer to the 3399 to 3799 adjustment. Bringing the 2600 price for the previous model into the discussion only creates in the mind of the reader a false base from which the latest price seems much higher.

    I cheated a little bit. The 2600 I paid was for a new top of line mbp as of October 2014. It was on special from a retailer, down from 2999. They botched a repair on it and replaced it with this years one. The only difference is 100mhz and the gfx card.

    As beautiful as the Mac is there is still a certain pain point for me and that is $3000. Even then I'd be labouring over the decision. The new price is not something I would even consider.

    Of course some one else's mmv but even in this thread it seems I'm not alone.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    anomeanome Posts: 1,533member
    djsherly wrote: »
    Wow. I'd be interested to see if apples computing devices are in fact inelastic.

    The top of line 15 Mbp was 2600 when I bought it. Apple replaced it with this years equivalent when it was 3399. Now its a couple hundred more.
    I do pretty well for myself and it was difficult to justify the 2600. Now it's 3799 there no way I'd buy it.

    Our salaries don't change because the cross rate does. Be curious to see how this plays out but were unlikely to ever know.
    It's worse if you find yourself on an unofficial wage freeze for going on 2 years now, but that's specific to my situation.

    Each time, just as I have enough saved up to get a new MacBook Pro, they adjust the price upward, which kind of screws me over. Like you, $3000 or so is about my limit for a computer, and now even the top-end 13" is over that. (And for some of the stuff I want to do with it, not to mention how long I'm likely to be stuck with it, I'd like to have the i7 and 16GB of RAM.)
    rayz wrote: »
    Does Apple ever adjust prices downward?
    Yes, most notably about 4 years ago when the Australian dollar was worth more than the US dollar. But since then, they've made a few corrections, usually around the release of new models.
    curiously the prices of iPhones and other items have not jumped - it seems to have only impacted Macs and AppleCare from my quick look.

    oh and I am in Australia
    They already corrected for the iPhone prices on release. For example, my iPhone 6 128GB costs me $3 a month on my $95 plan. A 128GB 6S, when I checked, was around $40 a month on the $95 plan. And the unlocked price is a few hundred more.
  • Reply 15 of 20
    Aaah. Was just going to buy one. Holding off.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    sog35 wrote: »


    iPhone6 is cheaper this year than last

    Yes it was if you believe a $300 price increase is cheaper
  • Reply 17 of 20
    zozmanzozman Posts: 393member

    in Australia we have always paid more for Apple products, even when $1 AUD was worth more than $1 US we still paid 10-20% more.

  • Reply 18 of 20
    zozman wrote: »
    in Australia we have always paid more for Apple products, even when $1 AUD was worth more than $1 US we still paid 10-20% more.

    Ahh you have been deceived. The US pricing is always without sales tax (which varies across the country) our always includes it, that's the 10%
  • Reply 19 of 20
    zozmanzozman Posts: 393member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cy_starkman View Post





    Ahh you have been deceived. The US pricing is always without sales tax (which varies across the country) our always includes it, that's the 10%



    No, I understand the GST, that would account for the 10% but 20% is the stretch.

    I'm not angry or anything, I still buy the things I want.

    Wonder how much the extra prices are from state to state in the US?.

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