Apple has revealed local pricing for its newest generation of iPhone SE and iPad Air. We also know when South Africans can lay their hands on them. Pre-orders have opened and are available from Incredible Connection, the iStore, and Digicape.
When the iPhone SE and iPad Air were announced on 8 March 2022 at Apple’s ‘Peek Performance’ event, pricing started at $429 and $600 respectively. Those were (obviously) US prices. Local prices were always going to differ. Now, we know by how much. The iPhone SE (3rd-gen) 64GB goes for R9,800 and the iPad Air 64GB (WiFi only) starts at R11,500. You might also sweeten the deal, depending on where you shop when you trade in your old devices.
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That might seem like a rather large difference from local US pricing, but it isn’t all that bad. The $429 launch price for the iPhone SE, directly converted, is around R6,400. But remember, that’s what Americans are paying before tax.
Add an imaginary tax of fifteen percent on that and you get R7,360 — a little closer to South Africa’s local pricing. Then there’s still import tax to get the thing here. That R3,400 difference isn’t as much as you might think. The same goes for the iPad and its roughly R2,500 difference.
These are the most powerful iPhone SE and iPad Air Apple has produced to date, sporting an A15 Bionic and M1 chip respectively. They might make a compelling purchase if you have Apples in your eye, or however the saying goes.