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Comment by nwh | Hacker News Reader

They seriously need to fix their international pricing. For a 64GB model it's $913AUD to buy an iPhone 5s in the US, $1129AUD to buy one in Australia. What?

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It's the same in Europe. Such devices often cost the same amount in USD and EUR, yet 450 EUR vs. 599 EUR is quite a difference.

VAT, import tariffs etc. Apple doesn't need to fix anything.

There's GST in Australia rather than VAT (10% vs 17.5%), and last year the prices were almost at parity.

Apple don't trust the AUD not to drop further than it already has in the last 3 months.

What a laughable excuse. It's been this way for years.

Apple will adjust pricing based on currency. If the Australian currency is getting weaker it may be because the emerging markets that it depends on are seeing turmoil in their currencies because of the prospect of Fed QE tapering.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/4934147/Apple-up...

Apple has overcharged both in Australia and Europe for decades, even when the currency has been strong. It's simply because they believe that people who live there will stomach a larger price. It's probably true. It's still infuriating.

It results in funny cases where a Nexus 4 can be 1/3 the price of an iPhone 5.

Just fly up to Hong Kong over a holiday and buy an iPhone there. Prices are cheap, and its what we used to do in Mainland China before (now, iPhone pricing is about 20% higher than the USA sticker, which probably mostly due to VAT).

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