All iPads Disgusting £100 price increase on iPad Air, and it has no hardware updates!🤬

[Juuro]

If this was inflation and devaluation of currency, then explain to me why today, when Apple increased the price of the iPads, they have NOT increased the price of the iPhone product line, or the Mac product line? or even the Apple Watch?

They can and they did. When they released the new iPhones in September they increased the prices all over Europe at around the same percentage as they did now with the iPads. And the new MacBooks next month will also be much more expensive than before. And maybe they will correct the price of things like the Studio Display, too, despite it getting zero updates. And other (tech) companies will undoubtedly do the same if they didn't already.

And about doing the math:

£569 is $643,28, without VAT that would be $545,15 and without other fees probably more like $535.
£669 is $756,34, without VAT that would be $640,97 and without other fees probably more like $630.
Apple sells the iPad in the US for $599 without tax.

If you compare the old (VAT and fee adjusted) price of the iPad Air in the UK in $ you clearly see that no matter how you calculate Apple did earn much less with the iPad Air than they did in the US. So they adjusted the price. Now they earn a little bit more with the iPad Air in the UK than they do in the US. They did not price it a the correct current exchange rate because they probably expect the pound to loose more value in the future (as they apparently do with the Euro) and also they don't wan't to adjust their prices all the time.

But if you do the math, as you suggested you can clearly see that the problem is the value of our currencies and that the proportions are changing.

PS: For this price change it is completely irrelevant that the iPad Air din't change a bit.

 

[EastHillWill]

If this was due to inflation and/or devaluation of currency then why did Apple not update the price of all the other products they sell which have also not been

Because each product has a unique manufacturing cost and profit margin. Product pricing has many variables, and it seems the margins on the Air weren’t where Apple wanted them, so they raised the price. It wouldn’t make sense to just blanket increase the cost of every single product they sell, because Apple is focused on that profit margin of each individual product, and the ones that didn’t see a price increase must still have acceptable ratios. And to be clear, I’m not defending Apple’s decision—I’m just answering your question as quoted above.

 

[Isengardtom]

Inflation is less of a factor than the currency. Otherwise prices in USD would increase too.

Apple has done these kind of increases in the past too. When currencies weaken against the USD, they increase the price. Makes sense in a way since they get fewer USD for our EUR or GBP.

for years the USD was pretty weak against those currencies but now the USD is actually stronger than the EUR.
I personally think they went to far in their margin safeguarding and I think it will hurt their sales in the EU and UK a lot

I for one will hold on to my devices a bit longer as a result

 

[nvmls]

The extra $100 is for the keynote production.. oh wait..

 

[Analog Kid]

I think the fundamental misunderstanding here is that this is driven more by the price of the dollar than the price of the iPad. Before you can buy an iPad, you have to buy dollars and use dollars to buy the iPad-- for most people, this happens behind the scenes, but it still has to happen.

As with any purchasing decision, it's a value judgement. Is the thing you're buying worth more or less to you than the thing you're trading for it. Is the iPad worth more or less than the number of dollars you're trading? Crucially in this conversation though is whether the dollar is worth more or less than the number of pounds sterling you're trading for it.

At the moment, people seem to believe dollar is worth more pounds than it was some time ago, so you need to trade more pounds for your dollars (exchange rate) in addition to possibly more dollars for the iPad (inflation).

There's a lot of reasons for the falling value of the pound relative to the dollar. For one, US interest rates are going up meaning you can earn more money for dollars you're holding than you used to. For another, the new UK government has made a bunch of policy changes, and then changes to the policy changes that have make the pound less appealing. Some of that is because spending more and taxing less in inflationary, some of it is due to broad uncertainty about the future.

To quote Dario Perkins: "The problem isn't that the UK budget was inflationary, its that it was moronic. And a small open economy that seems to be run by morons gets a wider risk premium on its assets"

This cuts both ways. It makes foreign products appear more expensive in the UK, but it also makes UK products more appealing to foreign markets. If you’re shopping for a luxury car, the Jaguar is probably more affordable now because you need to buy a UK automobile in pounds and can buy more pounds for your dollar than you used to.

Theoretically, at least, if Apple didn’t do this then grey market iPads would become an arbitrage mechanism and UK exporters would be making the money that Apple didn’t. They’d buy British iPads, and sell them in the US at a discount then buy pounds with those dollars and reap the profits.

 

[cheesygrin]

A customer asked me to quote for 8x iPads yesterday… and Apple bump the price by £100 today out of the blue. Thanks Apple.

 

[*~Kim~*]

IMO the Mini 6 price increase is the disgusting part. It was already a poor buy against the Air (A series chip rather than M1 and half the RAM) but also gets a £100 increase. That is almost 21% up on the Mini but ‘only’ about 17.5% up on the newer and better specced device.

I just found my receipt, I paid £619 for my cellular Mini in October 2021. Now £749!!

I was already priced out of the iPhone, now I won’t be buying any iPads for the forseeable.

 

[OllyW]

A customer asked me to quote for 8x iPads yesterday… and Apple bump the price by £100 today out of the blue. Thanks Apple.

That’s unfortunate for you but it wasn’t out of the blue. I had guessed this could happen a few weeks ago and bought forward my iPad purchase to avoid getting out of pocket.
Quite a few retailers including John Lewis and Amazon still have iPads at the old prices so you could beat the increase if you move quickly.

 

[Analog Kid]

A customer asked me to quote for 8x iPads yesterday… and Apple bump the price by £100 today out of the blue. Thanks Apple.

You should have seen it coming, frankly, and if you didn't have units at the quoted price in inventory then should have included a clause in your quotation to cover price fluctuations. The pound has been diving for months, it's been front page news.

If you had units in inventory then you can suddenly sell them for 100GBP more than you purchased them at. Thanks Apple!

 

[*~Kim~*]

I wouldn’t have an issue if I had the option pay in dollars (I have cards which don’t charge a fee for the conversion.) Apple’s conversion was bad a few years ago IIRC, but this is ridiculous.

 

[OllyW]

Moderator Note:
Posts on political, religious, and social issues are limited to the Political News forum so please keep them out of this thread.

 

[batfink]

Cost of living crisis and Apple pull this. They’ll end up pricing their products outside the market & average consumer soon at this rate.

 

[ggx12]

The problem is that it only goes one way. When the USD was weaker (it lasted multiple years), the prices were really high in Europe and the UK relative to how much the product were in the US. You had literally threads in forums to check if a US iPhone would work in your country based on the carrier bands.

The second problem is that disposable income does not follow currency fluctuation, sure you can stomach a bit, but I think the new prices have gone above way beyond what people are willing to pay (I hope, so that it goes down again).

I am big an Apple fan, I think I am in the target group and I have a decent job but sadly, it's been years since I purchased a brand new apple product, when it came out, in an Apple store. I need to buy refurbished or wait for sales from older models on Amazon.

 

[PlainBelliedSneetch]

All of the products you reference had been updated, significantly! You are missing the blindingly obvious.

The iPad Air HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED 🤦‍♂️

Price at 9am = £569

Price at 7pm = £669

Updates = NONE !

If this was due to inflation and/or devaluation of currency then why did Apple not update the price of all the other products they sell which have also not been updated?

It's nothing to do with inflation or devaluation of currency.

It's greed.

Maybe the UK should try lowering taxes and start QE again. That will fix it.

 

[cheesygrin]

You should have seen it coming, frankly, and if you didn't have units at the quoted price in inventory then should have included a clause in your quotation to cover price fluctuations. The pound has been diving for months, it's been front page news.

If you had units in inventory then you can suddenly sell them for 100GBP more than you purchased them at. Thanks Apple!

Fortunately, I did actually see it coming and held off from quoting until after Apple’s “event”. I work for a small company that can’t afford to keep large inventory. We usually order stock in as we need it.

But the point is that most industry price hikes happen gradually, smoothed out over time, which makes quotes that take weeks to come back for approval easier to honour. Apple sticking the unit price up by 25% overnight, when hardware profit margins are so tight, just stinks.

 

[aParkerMusic]

I don’t own a single share of Apple. This is simply Commerce 101 in action. Why shouldn’t the price of older products increase? Apple still has to pay engineers in Cupertino in USD and assembly workers in Chengdu in RMB. The value of GBP has dropped against all global currencies.

Apple can eat some inflation on older products but not inflation plus a currency slide.

I think it’s interesting that many people are outraged that Apple might increase prices at all, even if JUST for inflation. Most other goods you can think of will increase in price in response to inflation..why not Apple? Sometimes people have really warped expectations when it comes to this company; it often overshadows the legitimate criticisms that exist.

 

[benjo765]

View attachment 2097168

Apple crashed the pound?!

 

[JPack]

The problem is that it only goes one way. When the USD was weaker (it lasted multiple years), the prices were really high in Europe and the UK relative to how much the product were in the US. You had literally threads in forums to check if a US iPhone would work in your country based on the carrier bands.

The second problem is that disposable income does not follow currency fluctuation, sure you can stomach a bit, but I think the new prices have gone above way beyond what people are willing to pay (I hope, so that it goes down again).

I am big an Apple fan, I think I am in the target group and I have a decent job but sadly, it's been years since I purchased a brand new apple product, when it came out, in an Apple store. I need to buy refurbished or wait for sales from older models on Amazon.

It goes both ways. Apple adjusts both up and down. Apple archives every single press release so anybody can check the launch prices. I'm not sure why there's this myth Apple only adjusts when it favors them.

 

[ggx12]

I think it’s interesting that many people are outraged that Apple might increase prices at all, even if JUST for inflation. Most other goods you can think of will increase in price in response to inflation..why not Apple? Sometimes people have really warped expectations when it comes to this company; it often overshadows the legitimate criticisms that exist.

because inflation is not the same for all products. it's an average figure. It's actually become cheaper to produce electronics over time, and Apple has also significantly increased their profit margins by going in-house with their chips. If they wanted to put lower prices, they absolutely could, whereas someone might increase the price of bread because they would not survive as a business given their energy costs have increased.

 

[Steve121178]

A customer asked me to quote for 8x iPads yesterday… and Apple bump the price by £100 today out of the blue. Thanks Apple.

Well that's your customers problem, not yours.

 

[cardfan]

And how can they justify increasing the price of the iPad Pro from £999 to £1249? that's a 25% increase!

Inflation is 9.8%

Sickening behaviour.

Get used to it. Inflation isn’t pretty. There’s still way too many out there with no clue. Maybe you don’t need to buy the same hardware with little to no updates software wise.

The worst is yet to come.

 

[mectojic]

Every year, the used market becomes more attractive.

 

[JPack]

I think it’s interesting that many people are outraged that Apple might increase prices at all, even if JUST for inflation. Most other goods you can think of will increase in price in response to inflation..why not Apple? Sometimes people have really warped expectations when it comes to this company; it often overshadows the legitimate criticisms that exist.

I think part of the problem is people in Europe don't realize they are buying a purely imported product. There are zero European inputs into the iPhone or iPad. For some reason, they also think they should be immune to domestic economic conditions. The fact that there no domestic alternatives for technology in Europe just makes it worse. Lots of politics but I won't go there.

 

[ggx12]

It goes both ways. Apple adjusts both up and down. Apple archives every single press release so anybody can check the launch prices. I'm not sure why there's this myth Apple only adjusts when it favors them.

Happy to get a counter example, but from my experience, the iphone 5S cost 649$ and 699EUR. The day of the press release, the 1 USD = 0.765 EUR. Of course, let's put tax regimes aside and focus on the price net of tax (584,45 €) that's 763USD while it should have cost 496 euros (Tax-free). Now with taxes included, the difference became massive. Of course, when the USD became stronger in 2015, they increased the price in Euro to 749EUR to compensate (US stayed at 649$).

 

[JPack]

because inflation is not the same for all products. it's an average figure. It's actually become cheaper to produce electronics over time, and Apple has also significantly increased their profit margins by going in-house with their chips. If they wanted to put lower prices, they absolutely could, whereas someone might increase the price of bread because they would not survive as a business given their energy costs have increased.

TSMC wafer costs double with every major node. In China, 80% of provinces have announced increased electricity prices. Aluminum production is energy intensive, to make that beautiful chassis. The idea that electronics can only get cheaper is a thing of the past.