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Apple's modest New Zealand iPhone 6 mark-up
From September 26 New Zealanders will able to buy a 16 GB Apple iPhone 6 for $999. That's what it costs to buy the phone outright. The US headline prices quoted in Apple's launch presentation were for people buying phones on mobile plans. The US price for a non-plan 16GB iPhone 6 is US$649.
Converting that into New Zealand dollars, then allowing for 15 percent GST — see the table below for details — shows that New Zealanders pay nine percent more than Americans for most models .
Australians call this mark-up the Apple tax. That's a tad unfair. Apple charges New Zealanders more than Americans, but other hardware companies often have a larger mark-up. Samsung charges New Zealand consumers 19 percent more than Americans for the Galaxy S5 smartphone.
Nine percent isn't enough of a price difference to make jumping on a plane worthwhile. Nor is it worth directly importing a phone. Apart from anything else New Zealanders enjoy better consumer rights than most other counties, frankly, that alone is compensation for any mark up. Mind you, I'd happiest if Apple opened a physical store in New Zealand so we could get the same levels of service people get in other countries.
Bill Bennett
New Zealand technology news
Bill Bennett publishes technology news and features that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
Covering enterprise and small business computing, start-ups, listed companies, the technology channel and devices. Bennett's main focus is on New Zealand innovation.
Bill Bennett stories are republished on Geekzone and Scoop.
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