Each company has its own pricing philosophy, there are companies that prefer to offer a product at a very high price in the beginning, and then the price drops continuously with the passage of time and even before the release of the latest version of the device. As for Apple, it prefers to fix the price of the product from its release to the next generation. The companies prefer to change the pricing policy in different countries, but Apple does not, as it uses a different pricing policy. So what is Apple's way of pricing as well as its competitors, and should Apple review its pricing policy?

Does Apple need to review its global pricing policy?


How does Apple price products globally?

Of course, you may see at first glance that the price of Apple devices varies from country to country, but in reality the prices are almost uniform. Apple relies on the US price as a basis for calculating prices. For example, the iPhone is sold in America for $ 1080 (after calculating taxes). If you move to Europe, it is assumed that 1000 dollars means 880 euros, but you find the price of the phone in France, for example, 1155 euros, or 1350 dollars, and there are 205 euros in VAT taxes, and upon transfer, you find that the price of the phone is actually 950 euros, or 1080 dollars, "the same American price." And when you go to England, you find the price is 999 pounds, and Apple explains that it includes 167 pounds in taxes, meaning its actual price is 832 pounds, or approximately $ 1051 ... as if the price of the iPhone is fixed globally. And its Arab price, “the Emirati store is 4229 dirhams and includes 202 dirhams tax, ie, its price is 4027 dirhams, or $ 1095.

The price of the iPhone is almost fixed worldwide, and the difference is the taxes, fees, and currency differences that vary in countries


How do other companies price their devices globally?

Looking at companies other than Apple, we find that there is no unified price and pricing basis like Apple. Rather, companies pricing according to each market separately. Perhaps the most prominent and recent example of our company Huawei with its more powerful Mate 20 pro phone, which was priced in the American market $ 1150 and the European market, 1080 euros, or $ 1230, and when it was launched in Saudi Arabia, it was provided at a price of 3299 riyals, or only $ 880, which is a huge difference. The same thing happened with the Samsung Note 9, which is available in Arabic at a lower price than the European and American price. Perhaps the basic example is Egypt, where it is officially available at a price of 18500 pounds at the time, or $ 1030, while its price in America was $ 1080 “with taxes in the two countries” despite the fact that the fees and taxes in Egypt almost twice surpasses America.

Companies prefer to set a different price for each market according to the local situation and different purchasing power


Why do companies price their devices in different numbers?

There are dozens of reasons that push companies to price different numbers for each country. Perhaps the main reason is competition, especially in the world of Android and its devices, and the second reason is the purchasing power. It is known that European and American users have a higher purchasing power globally than other countries, in addition to the fact that telecom companies there provide devices in installments. This is the main selling method, as often no one buys the device "with cash." Perhaps the most prominent example is OnePlus, which launched a 6T phone last month for the first time with T-Mobile, and this resulted in an increase of nearly 250% of its sales. As for the third world markets, let us speak Arabic. Most of us buy devices "with cash" and thus companies seek to provide a lower price that suits the countries' purchasing power and payment method.


Why does Apple demonstrate global pricing policy?

Of course, Apple did not announce the reason for its pricing, but there are well-known logical reasons, perhaps the most prominent of which is that Apple wants the maximum profit margin and will not give up one dollar from any device it sells. Perhaps the most prominent example is its fourth-generation watch, which obscures a fundamental feature in it globally and at the same time sells it at the same price and has no price discounts. Apart from the profit margin, the second point is that Apple does not restrict the buyer to any country. You can get a new phone from a store below your home in Cairo and then travel to Japan, for example, and go to the Apple store and request maintenance, and the maintenance is already done because the phone was registered with Apple when it worked the first day and you got your 365 days warranty. If Apple makes reduced prices in certain countries, let it be Hong Kong, because of the large number of American citizens traveling around the world, as well as the ease and cheapness of shipping costs to America, it will appear "fashion" that the phone is bought from Hong Kong and shipped to America, and thus Apple loses price differences.

And before you ask why the same does not happen with other companies, you must remember that the iPhone is a fixed phone in the world, the device that is sold in America is the same that sold in Europe is the same as that sold in Arab countries (the difference is GSM or CDMA according to the network), but when looking at Android phones In spite of its recent development towards unifying global sales, there are still differences, especially in the devices of the middle classes. This is an image, for example, of the Samsung Note 8 phone models, as it supports a single chip in countries and dual countries in other countries, and there are countries that the phone comes with an SD processor and another with an Exynos processor, any radical differences


Why should Apple review its pricing policy?

Despite the previously mentioned reasons, we believe that Apple should review the global pricing policy for more than one reason. In the beginning, there is a recession in the global economy, that is, a shrinkage in the upper class who is able to buy its devices, and at the same time Apple increases the prices of devices, which made a huge sector reluctance to buy the iPhone As his income decreases, the company increases the price as well. Currently, Apple has started to suffer from a decline in device sales in general and the iPhone in particular, and if you ask anyone who loves the apple whether you see an XS or iPad Pro or an iMac a bad device, they will answer no, it is great, but at these prices I will update my device every two or three years instead of every year . To clarify, we are not saying that Apple should reduce the price of the device globally. For example, the competitors of the iPhone are the Mate 20 Pro and the Samsung Note 9. Their price in America is now on Amazon $ 900 and $ 1030, any price close to the iPhone with the $ 1000 and here you do not need Apple to move the American price, it is close to its competitors ... But in the Arab world you find the price of the iPhone Phone 4229 dirhams / riyals for the note 3100 dirhams and Huawei 3300 dirhams (there are also lower prices), which means a huge difference of up to $ 300 and sometimes increases. Is this possible?

What do you think of Apple's pricing philosophy for its products globally? Or do you think that Apple should continue the policy of not considering competitors' prices when pricing? Share your opinion in the comments

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