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Are Australians paying more for the iPhone XS Max?

How much "Apple Tax" has been added to the iPhone XS Max for those of us Down Under?

Alex Kidman
Alex Kidman

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Apple launched the iPhone XS Max in September 2018 amidst a flurry of hype and a frenzy of pre-orders. But if you're pondering an iPhone XS Max, you're no doubt well aware that the outright pricing is, shall we say, on the pointy side. A fully decked out Apple iPhone XS with 512GB of onboard storage will cost you $2369, easily the most expensive regularly available handset to hit the Australian market to date.

Australia vs the world

But how does that compare worldwide? A common complaint (and misconception) in the early days of the iPhone was that it was "way cheaper" in the USA, thanks to the way Apple used to announce pricing at $99 for a handset. This wasn't actually the case because that was what you'd pay AT&T just to start a two-year iPhone contract. Since then, Apple's opened up iPhone outright sales across the planet.

So here's what Apple charges for that 512GB iPhone XS Max across 26 different nations, converted into Australian dollars. A few caveats to these figures; they're based on Apple's stated pre-order prices, although it's exceptionally rare for it to change iPhone prices over their year of primacy anyway. No local taxes have been taken into account, and those could affect converted costs to the consumer. Exchange rates may shift and were calculated on 17 September 2018.

While we don't have the absolute lowest-cost iPhone XS Max models on the planet, we're reasonably well off in fifth place. Japan has the lowest cost, although without having much tax expertise, I expect that Apple's quoting without Japan's 8% consumption tax taken into effect. Add that and it's rather close, and likewise, US prices in states where sales tax applies would push their pricing up too.

Still, it's long been the case that Apple fans in Scandinavia are slugged with the highest prices, and for the iPhone XS Max, that trend sadly continues.

Want to know more about the iPhone XS Max? We've collected everything you need to know about the Apple iPhone XS Max here.

If you're looking for a cheaper alternative than buying the iPhone XS Max outright, you can compare contract deals in the table below:

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