Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X launch: How Australian prices compare to the rest of the world

APPLE’S iPhone X will be the most expensive iPhone ever sold in Australia, but there are many countries where people will pay much more.

APPLE’S new premium iPhone will smash price records when it comes to Australia, raising the top price ever asked for a smartphone.

At $1829, the 256GB iPhone X will be the most expensive smartphone sold in Australia by $260, breaking the record set by Apple last year for its top model iPhone 7 Plus.

Even Apple’s cheapest iPhone X, the 64GB model at $1579, will be more costly than rival Samsung’s most expensive smartphone, the upcoming Galaxy Note 8, at $1499.

But before you stage a protest, realise it could be worse.

We polled 20 countries that will receive Apple’s iPhone X on November 3 this year, and Australia is far from the most expensive.

While you could save money, even accounting for local taxes, by purchasing an iPhone X in America, many of our European counterparts have a significantly greater cost to bear to buy Apple’s new top phone.

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ESCAPE: How the iPhone X will change your travel plans

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Of the list, Hungarians faced the greatest burden at $258 more than Australians for the 64GB iPhone X, though their continental partners did not fare much better.

French and Spanish iPhone X users must pay an extra $149 on top of Australian prices, and potential Italian buyers must be smarting with a seemingly inexplicable $195 additional cost.

Even the motherland, England, will be slugged an extra $75 on top of local iPhone X prices, and Australian prices also came out ahead of New Zealand and China.

The iPhone X will cost even more in parts of Asia. Picture: Apple

Some parts of the Asia Pacific are getting a slightly better deal than Down Under.

You’d need to have existing travel plans to make it worthwhile, but visiting Japan to buy an iPhone X would also save you $200 after adding the country’s eight per cent sales tax.

And if you happen to be passing through Dubai, picking up an iPhone X there will save you $191.

Of course, Apple’s new iPhones are cheapest in their home country, America, though that price does not include state-based tax, which could increase its cost by as much as 12.94 per cent, or $160.

The Australian price of Apple’s new iPhone X could have larger implications beyond individual spending power, however.

The new iPhone 8, iPhone X and iPhone 8S are displayed during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre. Picture: Getty

The Commonwealth Bank uses iPhone and iPad prices as a way to judge purchasing power theory and whether the Australian dollar is under or overvalued.

The new iPhone X prices are likely to be a reflection of the Australian dollar rising six per cent against the US dollar over the past year, bringing down the price of US goods.

Before Apple’s launch this week, the CommBank found the Australian dollar was perhaps “too high against major currencies on current fundamentals”.

It found Australia was the 25th cheapest place in the world to buy the iPhone 7 — a rise from 17th cheapest for the iPhone 6s.

The response to the iPhone X has been mixed. Picture: AP

APPLE iPhone X 64GB PRICES WORLDWIDE

1. United States $1243

2. Japan $1276

3. Canada $1350

4. Hong Kong $1368

5. United Arab Emirates $1388

6. Taiwan $1484

7. Singapore $1524

8. Australia $1579

9. China $1598

10. New Zealand $1633

11. Mexico $1648

12. United Kingdom $1654

13. Russia $1727

14. Germany $1714

15. France $1728

16. Spain $1728

17. India $1732

18. Ireland $1754

19. Italy $1774

20. Hungary $1837

* Prices converted to Australian dollars.

Originally published as Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X launch: How Australian prices compare to the rest of the world