By Benedict Wee
I've been pretty distracted with the HTC Magic launch and the drama this past week and didn't get a chance to digest the iPhone 3GS price news till yesterday night when I came read iLounge's review of the iPhone 3GS and realized that New Zealand was not the only country selling Apple's smartphones without a contract. So I decided to compile a list of countries that are selling the phone for a good ol' fashioned price check.
The results show that compared to the other 3 countries, New Zealand's iPhone 3GS price is the highest with the exception of UK's 32GB model (which is pretty bizarre in itself). I was also going to publish the Australian prices for the iPhone but only Vodafone.au sold them without contracts and their prices are similar (no surprises there as they are the same telco).
Update: Turns out you can buy unlocked iPhone 3GSs in the Australian Apple store. They're AU$879 (NZ$1111.75) and AU$1040 (NZ$1315.38) respectively for the 16GB and 32GB models. (Forex: AU$1=NZ$1.264) Thanks Mike!
I don't mind paying a premium for a contract-less mobile but when you compare the prices to the rest of the world and knowing that it costs around NZ$278 to build a 16GB iPhone 3GS, one is tempted to look for a better deal out there. After all, the internet makes it so much easier to source for one.
In Australia you can also purchase unlocked direct from Apple, see
ReplyDeletehttp://store.apple.com/au
United States prices exclude sales tax (8-10% in most states) whereas NZ prices include 12.5% GST.
Thanks Mike. Will make the appropriate changes. As for the US prices, I would recommend getting them from ebay instead to avoid the sales tax.
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