Beneath the slew of MacBook and Apple Watch announcements, Apple rather sneakily made another change on its Malaysian online store: raise the retail prices of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus.
Across the entire range of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the retail prices have become more expensive overnight. The 16GB iPhone 6 – the cheapest model – received a RM150 price hike, while the rest of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models have all seen a RM200 increase in retail prices.
The new retail prices for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Malaysia are as below:
- iPhone 6, 16GB: RM2,549 (up RM150 from RM2,399 – 6.25%)
- iPhone 6, 64GB: RM2,949 (up RM200 from RM2,749 – 7.27%)
- iPhone 6, 128GB: RM3,349 (up RM200 from RM3,149 – 6.35%)
- iPhone 6 Plus, 16GB: RM2,949 (up RM200 from RM2,749 – 7.15%)
- iPhone 6 Plus, 64GB: RM3,349 (up RM200 from RM3,149 – 6.35%)
- iPhone 6 Plus, 128GB: RM3,749 (up RM200 from RM3,549 – 5.64%)
On top of that, the two iPhone 5s models have also seen a price increase of RM150 each. The new retail prices of the iPhone 5s in Malaysia are as below:
- iPhone 5s, 16GB: RM2,149 (up RM150 from RM1,999 – 7.5%)
- iPhone 5s, 32GB: RM2,349 (up RM150 from RM2,199 – 6.8%)
While there hasn’t been any official announcement on Apple’s part regarding this price increase, it is likely due to the depreciation of the Malaysian Ringgit against the US Dollar, where the exchange rate is now $1 = RM3.68. We’ve also included the price increase in percentage to see if this could be an early move by Apple to “absorb” GST prices once the new tax kicks in from April 2015 – though we’re pretty sure it is more likely due to the weakness of the RM against the Dollar.
If you’ve been waiting for the right time to get an iPhone, we’re sorry to tell you it was last night. Unless the Malaysian Ringgit strengthens against the Dollar, it is likely that this new price will stay for quite a while. But hey, at least it’s not like the 35% hike in iPhone prices that Russians suffered in December, right?
