Yeah you’re right, just checked. From 629 w/ education, from 649 w/o. Yeesh, pretty stingy, Apple.
Keep in mind that even with Apple’s refurbished products you only save “up to 15%.” Apple is not a fan of discounting its products. The only places I’ve ever seen a (relatively quiet) discount are at large online sellers like B&H, who, for instance, helped Apple move a ton of “late 2016” MacBook Pros with discounts of $400 to $750.
If Apple didn’t make truly top notch products they couldn’t charge what they do. But that is a double edged sword— as the 2016 MacBook Pro debut makes clear. On Apple’s site, new and refurbished, they never discounted the 2016 MBP like B&H did. And this is how some brands try to save face.
Canon is a great example of a brand highly in control of its image and pricing. Even on eBay it is often hard to find a discount on new Canon cameras and lenses. But recently, Canon hasn’t had any competitive camera models, and they’ve been losing customers rapidly to mirrorless camera manufactures, so very “behind the scenes” the prices on a couple “gray market” camera models has plummeted. The $3,500 5D mkIV can be found selling brand new (gray mkt) for $2,125. And its $2,000 6D mkII for $1,150.
Very “un-Canon,” but like I said, you can only maintain uber-premium monolithic pricing when you have the product to back it up.
I anticipate the new iPad Pros will fall into this elite category and remain nearly impossible to find at much of a discount.
Some of us don’t need but just want.
