Sunday 30 September 2012

iPhone 5 is now available in 26 countries: HK is still the cheapest

Apple released the new iPhone 5 in more countries on September 28. The comparator of iPhone prices around the world now includes them.

The US still don't have an unlocked iPhone, hence the visible price is not comparable (it goes with a contract).
Canada is the cheapest then, but that's before Sales Tax that are added while ordering, depending on the shipping address in Canada.
Hong Kong has no Sales Tax or equivalent, therefore the visible price is the one accessible to customer, and the cheapest in the world!

The comparator now includes a currency selector for everyone to be able to choose the currency they are confortable with to do the comparison!

Logistics always amazes me: Fedex holds on delivery for 44 hours to be on time!

Having ordered a product from the US, shipped on Thursday, September 13th, it was delivered to me 5 business days later, on Wednesday, September 19th, in Singapore.
That's exactly what was expected and paid for with Fedex International Economy (US$ 36.88 in this case).

The interesting part is that the package was actually in Singapore 2 days before delivery, Fedex keeping it on hold for 1 day and a half.

Why?

I believe that it is because I did not pay the additional US$3.90 of the Fedex International Priority service, which guarantees a 3-day delivery.

For 44 hours, my package remained in the warehouse, not to be delivered earlier than expected.

Sunday 23 September 2012

What is the iPhone 5 price difference between countries? up to 23%!

Since Friday, September 21th, the new iPhone 5 is available in 8 countries. I was curious to know the price differences from one country to another, so I published a comparator of iPhone 5 prices around the world:

The cheapest iPhone 5 is in the US, but the unlocked version it is not yet available.
Seven other countries have the unlocked version of the iPhone 5 with the following price in the Apple Store:
iPhone 5 prices, converted to SGD for comparison
Canada is the cheapest country to get an unlocked iPhone 5 at C$ 699.
An iPhone 5 in Hong Kong will just cost a few more dollars.
The iPhone 5 in Singapore is 8% more expensive.
Australia and the United Kingdom are following.
France and Germany are the two most expensive countries currently, 23% more expensive than Canada: (that's SGD 200 - EUR 125 more).

However, even if you wish to buy it, there is a 3-4 weeks waiting period currently. Hong Kong does not even allow online orders today (I'm sure some resellers around Wan Chai have some to sell though).

The iPhone 5 is unfortunately not yet available in Malaysia, which is the country with the lowest price usually for Apple product (iPhone 4S, MacBook Air...)

The full comparator is available here.

Impact of the Sales Tax

Going further in the analysis, by adjusting for the Sales Tax (or equivalent tax), Australia is the country where Apple gets the most money for the iPhone 5... 6% more than what it gets in the UK or Canada. It also appears that it is due to their high Sales Tax rate that France and Germany have the highest selling price.

iPhone 5 prices with Sales Tax adjustments



There is also a MacBook Air price comparator showing that Hong Kong, the US and Malaysia are the 3 cheapest countries to buy this computer, 51% cheaper than in the most expensive country: Brazil.