iPhone 12: Malaysia is among the cheapest countries to buy one

Apple’s much anticipated iPhone 12 series will soon hit store shelves in the US and other major markets. At the moment, the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro are already listed on Apple Malaysia’s website, but they have yet to reveal its availability details.

We know that for the first wave countries like the US, Australia, UK and Singapore, the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro will be available from 23 October onwards while the iPhone 12 Pro Max and 12 mini will be released much later from 13 November. 

With all this hype building up for Apple’s latest iPhones, one question comes to mind: which country sells the iPhone 12 at the cheapest price? Let’s take a look at some data that Statista recently released that compared the launch price of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro across several countries that included major markets like the US, Japan, China and India.

Hands down, the US is the cheapest place in the world to buy the latest iPhone. The price of the iPhone 12 with 128GB of storage, starts at USD943 (MYR3,912). This price is reflective of a phone purchased without a contract, trade-in or SIM-lock and includes California state sales tax of 7.25%. If you were to opt for the more premium iPhone 12 Pro, you would have to pay USD1,071 (MYR4,443) for the 128GB model.

Conversely, customers in India pay the highest price for Apple’s smartphone with the base iPhone 12 costing a whopping USD 1,158 (MYR4,804). That is a premium of USD215 (MYR892) compared to the US. Meanwhile, the iPhone 12 Pro costs USD 1,636 (MYR6,887) in India, which is an extra USD565 (MYR2,345) more than what American customers pay.

However, Statista’s numbers don’t consider countries in our part of the world. So, we have taken the trouble to come up with our own table, which also takes some stats from Statista, to compare Apple’s official prices for the entire iPhone 12 series across 11 countries.

One thing to note, even though the non-Pro models start with 64GB of storage, we felt it was better to standardise our comparison by including the 128GB variant across all models.

On our list, Malaysia is the fourth cheapest country in the world to buy an iPhone 12. Take for example, an iPhone 12, 128GB in Malaysia costs MYR4,099 (or USD988 based on exchange rates sourced on 20 Oct 2020). That costs USD45 (MYR187) more than the price in the US, but it isn’t too far off compared to some other countries.

But, the starkest contrast in price can be seen in the difference between the iPhone 12 Pro in Malaysia and the US. Locally, the same 128GB model costs more USD110 (MYR456). All things considered, though it is higher price to pay that is not as bad some other countries in the world.

The price of an iPhone 12 in neighbouring Singapore is also noticeably more expensive than even in Australia and Taiwan. Another thing to note is that continental Europe, which includes Germany, is paying more of a premium than even the United Kingdom (UK).

Just to recap, the full Malaysian price of the new iPhone 12 series is as follows:

5.4″ iPhone 12 mini
64GB – RM3,399
128GB – RM3,599
256GB – RM4,099

6.1″ iPhone 12
64GB – RM3,899
128GB – RM4,099
256GB – RM4,599

6.1″ iPhone 12 Pro
128GB – RM4,899
256GB – RM5,399
512GB – RM6,299

6.7″ iPhone 12 Pro Max
128GB – RM5,299
256GB – RM5,799
512GB – RM6,699

[SOURCE]

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