Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 15th Jan 2013 09:12 UTC
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apples sells unlocked no-subsidy iphone5's direct to US consumers for a bit less than 500 euros (16GB) or 575 euros (32GB). carriers must get them for substantially less. but apple certainly is selling them for more than android or windows phones, and without subsidies price-conscious consumers will choose other options. even in the us, other brands are doing increasingly well.
apples sells unlocked no-subsidy iphone5's direct to US consumers for a bit less than 500 euros (16GB) or 575 euros (32GB).
When calculating European prices from US prices, always keep in mind to include sales tax, as that's what people here are used to seeing. The 500/575 figures is thus quite misleading. Most countries here have around 20% sales tax, so that'll be 600 and 690 Euros.





Member since:
2009-05-19
No. To put it simply - in US the operators are free to charge you stupid fees on your devices and then charge you your usual $100 per device. In EU that practice "does not fly", so the operators are done supporting Apple with their cash and are letting the customer pay the full actual price.* Why? Because when you buy an iPhone you are not likely to be proving additional revenues for the operator to cover for the subsidy(considering OTT, premium SMS messages and similar)
*- iPhone5 off contract is about €750 and it's subsidy constitutes €10-€15 in your monthly bill. That is a considerable hole between the price the operator pays to Apple and you pay back.(I suppose Apple only gets €500 when sold in bulk to operators)