At the stroke of midnight, almost everything became 6% more expensive. One of the first, and perhaps most significant, companies to raise prices of its products here in Malaysia is Apple, which earlier updated its online store to raise prices of its entire iPhone range, from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 5c.
Less than one month after Apple raised the prices of iPhones in Malaysia, the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has resulted in yet another price increase – and added a further blow to consumers’ wallets. A quick check on the Apple online store will show that not only the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus’ retail prices have increased by 6%, even the older models including the iPhone 5s and 5c saw a slight but noticeable bump in prices.
The new retail prices of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models in Malaysia are as below:
- iPhone 6, 16GB: RM2,702 (up RM153 from RM2,549 – 6.00%)
- iPhone 6, 64GB: RM3,126 (up RM177 from RM2,949 – 6.00%)
- iPhone 6, 128GB: RM3,550 (up RM201 from RM3,349 – 6.00%)
- iPhone 6 Plus, 16GB: RM3,126 (up RM177 from RM2,949 – 6.00%)
- iPhone 6 Plus, 64GB: RM3,550 (up RM201 from RM3,349 – 6.00%)
- iPhone 6 Plus, 128GB: RM3,974 (up RM225 from RM3,749 – 6.00%)
On top of that, the two iPhone 5s models have also gone up in retail price:
- iPhone 5s, 16GB: RM2,278 (up RM129 from RM2,149 – 6.00%)
- iPhone 5s, 32GB: RM2,490 (up RM141 from RM2,349 – 6.00%)
Finally, the iPhone 5c has also increased in price from RM1,499 to RM1,589 – again a 6% increase in retail price.
What is really a crushing blow for consumers here is the fact that in less than one month, the retail prices of the iPhone has gone up anywhere between RM279 to RM425, with the double whammy that is the weakening Ringgit Malaysia against the US Dollar, and now the implementation of the GST. It is definitely not an unexpected move, but seeing as how the cheapest iPhone 6 is now RM2,702 is quite a painful sight even if you’re not looking to buy one.
This is likely to not be the only price increase we’ll witness today. While companies such as Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have all moved to allay any worries about the retail prices of its products, there are still very big question marks on the other tech companies which have not announced anything regarding how the retail prices of its products will be affected once GST kicks in.
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