Fans of Apple’s iPhone can now buy the brand new iPhone 4S in another 21 countries across the globe after Apple made the handset available to new territories today. Our friends at MacRumors did some leg work and discovered that plenty of new countries have joined the growing list of places where eager buyers can pick up a new iPhone 4S, with some eye-watering pricing thrown in for good measure.
The 21 new countries now offering the iPhone 4S either through Apple’s own online stores or through carrier parties are: Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.
Of those countries, Brazil is the one where buyers will need to stump up the most cash, with the huge import tax placed on devices such as smartphones being the reason for the premium.
Pricing for the iPhone 4S through Apple’s Brazilian online store starts at the equivalent of $1410 for the 16 GB model and moves up to $1628 for the 32 GB model and $1845 for the 64 GB model.
Compare those prices with what customers in the United States are paying – $649 for 16GB, $749 for 32GB and $849 for the top of the range 64GB unit – and it is clear to see there is a considerable price difference there. In fact, Brazilian iPhone fans will need to pay over double what their American cousins are paying to get the same hardware. Hopefully the decision to build some of Apple’s inventory in Brazil itself will help to reduce the costs moving forward.
Russian punters don’t fare much better. Apple’s official carrier partner in the area, MTC, will sell customers the iPhone 4S at prices ranging from the equivalent of $1131 to $1350. Not quite Brazilian prices, but certainly not American prices, either.
As we mentioned earlier, its strange to note why the prices are sky-high in the above mentioned places, especially Brazil, where Apple has a dedicated factory for manufacturing iPhones. Maybe its due to expensive material cost? We can’t say for sure. But, the thing is; get ready to sell an arm or a leg if you’re planning to pick up an iPhone 4S in the above listed countries.
And everyone says the iPhone is expensive in the United States!
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