The 13in MacBook Air, now the cheapest laptop Apple makes, starts at £949 which is up from £849 and the 11in model has been discontinued. The 12in MacBook now sells £1,249 instead of £1,049 and the older MacBook Pro laptops in 13- and 15in are still on sale at £1,249 and £1,899 respectively. They were £999 and £1,599 previously. Apple’s Mac mini has the smallest prices hike from £399 up to £479 but the Mac Pro has jumped a whopping £500 – from £2,499 to £2,999. Over on the iMac front which used to begin at £899, you’ll need to spend at least £1,049 now. So that’s price increases of at least £80 but typically hundreds for existing products and a peak rise of £500 for a nearly three-year old Mac. Wow, Brexit.
Microsoft has confirmed that it will be increasing prices due to Brexit and has given advance warning ahead of the changes which will take effect on 1 January 2017. The firm has announced that prices for on-premises enterprise software will increase by 13 percent to realign close to euro levels. Even worse is that most enterprise cloud prices will increase by 22 percent. It says the price hikes are to ‘harmonise prices’ within the EU/EFTA region. Prices for products sold by resellers will continue to be decided by the retailer itself. Microsoft also said that customers will have ‘price protection’ on previously ordered enterprise software and cloud services so won’t get a price increase during the term of the agreement. Essentially the higher price will kick in with subscriptions need renewing.
Although Apple said the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are the same price as previous models, that appears to be the case for the US only. In the UK, the phones have has sizable price increases and although it’s not officially due to Brexit, it’s not hard to figure out. Even though they have double the storage, Apple buys those components very cheaply and the US price staying the same is a big hint. The iPhone 7 is now £599 for the cheapest model which is an increase of £60. However, the iPhone 7 Plus is a whopping £100 more expensive at £719. It’s not just the iPhone which has got a price rise, either, although the iPad range has been bumped to 32GB storage as standard. The iPad Pro 9.7 price has been increased by £50 to £549 and the 128GB is up £20. However, the largest model is cheaper by £10 – go figure. It’s a similar story with the larger iPad Pro which is also £50 more expensive for the cheapest model. It’s interesting with the iPads because Apple has made them cheaper in the US even with the storage upgrade. Not a price increase but the new Apple AirPod earphones are the name figure in dollars and pounds – £159 and $159.
Chinese smartphone sensation OnePlus is well-known for its affordable and cheap phones. The firm held off for as long as possible, however, it wasn’t long after the latest flagship device launched that the price went up. “The sharp drop witnessed in the currency markets following the Brexit decision has forced us to re-evaluate the OnePlus 3’s pricing in the UK at a time of significant demand,” said the company. At just £309, the ‘extremely thin margin’ on the OnePlus 3 meant that the price was pushed up by £20 in the UK. What OnePlus did was give consumers a few days to buy the phone at the original price before it was hiked.
Following the lead of OnePlus, Dell was the first major large-scale tech brand to announce price rises after the EU referendum. “In line with the rest of the industry, our component costs are priced in US dollars, and unfortunately the recent strengthening of the US dollar versus sterling and other currencies in the EMEA region, following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, will have a direct impact on the price we sell to our UK customers and partners,” it said. Although Dell hasn’t given any specific examples, some retailers have said prices went up 10 percent across all products like PCs and laptops.
Another specific product which has gotten more expensive after Brexit is HTC’s popular virtual reality headset. The HTC Vive has been around for a little while but that hasn’t stopped the Taiwanese company pushing the price up. “HTC continuously monitors and adjusts pricing to ensure we are providing our customers with the best value possible,” is said in a blog post which stated the reason for the price hike was the “recent currency valuation changes and the current value of the GBP.” It also gave customers a couple of days warning ahead of the price rise which occurred on 1 August to £759.
It’s not just Dell implementing price rises in the PC and laptop world, with HP joining in the fun on 1 August; once again, the firm is blaming the value of the pound following the EU referendum. “In order to maintain a sustainable and consistent approach to our operation in the UK and Ireland, we have taken the decision to make some adjustments to our channel-supported and directly-contracted end-user pricing strategy.” A 10 percent increase was rolled out across HP’s Personal Systems portfolio for prices to retailers which includes commercial and business products.
Not all price increases due to Brexit have already taken place. In the case of Asus, the fourth biggest PC maker, the firm is expecting to take action in October 2016. It plans to raise prices by around nine percent but October is a little way off so this could change or perhaps it might not happen if the value of the pound changes dramatically enough. Asus said: “Unfortunately, we are unable to continue to sustain the losses caused by a weaker pound any further, and therefore have no choice but to increase the cost of goods to our partners in line with the value of the pound.”
One of the most extreme price rises we’ve seen due to Brexit is a ViewSonic VX2776-SMHD monitor which we initially thought was just £119. That’s what we were told anyway.
According to a BBC report, UK firm Intro 2020 which imports camera equipment such as Tamron and Hoya has raised its prices. Also on 1 August, its entire stock went up by between 10 and 12 percent. “The currency situation is precarious for us at the moment – my feeling is that it’s going to be six to nine months before we get some stabilisation. It’s painful. We expect our turnover will fall as a result,” said general manager, Jim Mackay. In the same report, the UK branch of lens maker Sigma indicated that it would also follow suit saying “Retailers cannot be fully expected to absorb the costs incurred by currency volatility in the wake of Brexit.” Tech Advisor’s Reviews Editor, Chris has been reviewing all kinds of tech for over 10 years and specialises in audio. He also covers a range of topics including home entertainment, phones, laptops, tablets and more.
