Apple raises iCloud+ pricing in the UK and other markets

AppleInsider

Apple has raised the prices of iCloud+ in the United Kingdom and other markets, making it a bit more expensive to go beyond the initial free 5GB allowance.

iCloud

Apple periodically adjusts the prices of its various products and services, typically to account for currency fluctuations, tax alterations, and other gradual financial changes. In an update on Tuesday, Apple has tweaked the pricing of its standalone cloud storage service in the UK.

Under the price changes, iCloud+ will cost UK users 8.99 pounds ($11.44) for the 2 terabyte plan, including sales tax. Previously, this cost 6.99 pounds ($8.90), and reflects an increase of 28%.

The increase also happened to the 200GB tier, which rose from 2.49 pounds ($3.17) to 2.99 pounds ($3.80) overnight. This is a 20% increase over the earlier pricing.

Of the three tiers, the 50GB introductory level remains unchanged, priced at 99 pence ($1.26).

While the UK is stung by a slight increase, Apple didn't change pricing for the United States, Canada, and many other markets. The UK isn't alone in seeing changes either, as some other markets saw changes to iCloud pricing as part of the same update.

For example, prices have gone up in Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Denmark, Peru, Egypt, and Norway, yet have dropped slightly in Iceland.

However, in the UK, Apple One bundle pricing including storage has remained the same.

Read on AppleInsider

AppleZulu

A straightforward price increase? How quaint. 

In order to keep customers from getting mad about a price increase, perhaps Apple should try Netflix’s approach: separate out a previously included (even encouraged) component of their services, accuse customers of “stealing” it, take it away and only let them have it back if they pay extra for it. Price increase? What price increase?

xbit

How about increasing those storage limits, Apple?

CheeseFreeze

Fine, but it's time they up the storage limits in the highest tiers. 

I'm getting close to 2 TB with my family. When I back it up to Synology NAS or something else, all the meta-data will be lost in the process. Apple does not provide an API so I can back it up externally. They are locking me in.

Also, this makes iCloud £1 more than Google's way more advanced Google Drive offering with 2TB. iCloud via the browser doesn't even have a keyword Search! Trying to find documents is a nightmare and requires you to know which folder and subfolders it is in. Apple's cloud strategy is behind competitors.

strongy

CheeseFreeze said:

Fine, but it's time they up the storage limits in the highest tiers. 

I'm getting close to 2 TB with my family. When I back it up to Synology NAS or something else, all the meta-data will be lost in the process. Apple does not provide an API so I can back it up externally. They are locking me in.

Also, this makes iCloud £1 more than Google's way more advanced Google Drive offering with 2TB. iCloud via the browser doesn't even have a keyword Search! Trying to find documents is a nightmare and requires you to know which folder and subfolders it is in. Apple's cloud strategy is behind competitors.

Transfer iCloud photos and videos to Google Photos - Google Photos Help
hardly locked in if you can do this

deanwall

The article is incorrect. 

The 50GB plan was 0.79 per month and now showing 0.99 so increased by 25%. 

ITGUYINSD

strongy said:

CheeseFreeze said:

Fine, but it's time they up the storage limits in the highest tiers. 

I'm getting close to 2 TB with my family. When I back it up to Synology NAS or something else, all the meta-data will be lost in the process. Apple does not provide an API so I can back it up externally. They are locking me in.

Also, this makes iCloud £1 more than Google's way more advanced Google Drive offering with 2TB. iCloud via the browser doesn't even have a keyword Search! Trying to find documents is a nightmare and requires you to know which folder and subfolders it is in. Apple's cloud strategy is behind competitors.

Transfer iCloud photos and videos to Google Photos - Google Photos Help
hardly locked in if you can do this

These non-Apple "Photos" apps seem to only upload to the cloud when you actually run the app.  So now I have to remember to do that?  iCloud uploads my photos instantly. 

I just tried Amazon Photos as I'm a Prime member and get unlimited storage.  I quickly found that nothing uploads unless you have the app open or switch it to "overnight mode.  Again, something to remember to do and I surely won't.

GrannySmith99

I'm in the UK and seeing these increases today. Petty convenient that this is happening ONE DAY after the closing down of My Photo stream. lol

One thing that seems strange is that there was no notice period of the increase. I was not informed prices were to rise and I thought that consumer rights in the UK meant that any increase had to be announced 1 month in advance, to give people time to decide weather to cancel or not?

(Oh and I'm wondering why the article cannot use the £ symbol for quoting sterling figures? Seems strange when the $ is used for the US conversion)

Ofer

Apple already overcharges for storage. It’s absolutely ridiculous that they’re now increasing their storage fees.

sidrictheviking

GrannySmith99 said:

I'm in the UK and seeing these increases today. Petty convenient that this is happening ONE DAY after the closing down of My Photo stream. lol

One thing that seems strange is that there was no notice period of the increase. I was not informed prices were to rise and I thought that consumer rights in the UK meant that any increase had to be announced 1 month in advance, to give people time to decide weather to cancel or not?

(Oh and I'm wondering why the article cannot use the £ symbol for quoting sterling figures? Seems strange when the $ is used for the US conversion)

FYI, My Photo stream will be closing down on the 26th of July, not June. 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210705

GrannySmith99

sidrictheviking said:

GrannySmith99 said:

I'm in the UK and seeing these increases today. Petty convenient that this is happening ONE DAY after the closing down of My Photo stream. lol

One thing that seems strange is that there was no notice period of the increase. I was not informed prices were to rise and I thought that consumer rights in the UK meant that any increase had to be announced 1 month in advance, to give people time to decide weather to cancel or not?

(Oh and I'm wondering why the article cannot use the £ symbol for quoting sterling figures? Seems strange when the $ is used for the US conversion)

FYI, My Photo stream will be closing down on the 26th of July, not June. 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT210705

Well, yes, technically it is closing down on July 26th BUT no more photos will be uploaded to My Photostream starting on 26th of June (yesterday) so if you want photo syncing from today onwards, you need to use iCloud+.

FileMakerFeller

Ofer said:

Apple already overcharges for storage. It’s absolutely ridiculous that they’re now increasing their storage fees.

Amazon prices all their storage in US dollars and then converts to whatever local currency applies. So Apple's not the only company that has raised prices because of currency fluctuations.

Incidentally, the cheapest price I found for storage on AWS is ~AU$2 per terabyte per month - with files taking a minimum of 12 hours to retrieve. Not really comparable to Apple's offering, but if the lowest price is your highest priority you can make the trade-off against ease of use and integration. We know Apple makes heavy use of AWS, so they're probably getting something of a discount on a white label service from Amazon, but I don't know that you can justifiably claim that Apple overcharges just because they're adding a retail margin to their wholesale cost - that margin pays for the nicer experience.

appleinsideruser

I £100 agree 💯

evilution

Disappointed in a 28% increase for the 2TB storage considering the cost of storage only ever gets cheaper.

The range of options are crap too. Nothing between 200GB and 2TB. a 1TB would be perfect but I guess they did it so you have little option than to pay.