Apple Begins Offering Unlocked iPhone 4S in U.S. Online Store

As much as I love Apple, I think the off-contract prices are too high. Begin the down-voting.

So it's $100 for a 16 GB memory difference and also $100 for a 32 GB difference? What kind of arbitrary pricing is that? If we assume they get a healthy margin on the 32 to 64 GB upsell, then the margin on the 16 to 32 one must be insane.

I'm not going to argue about the margins, but flash cost isn't geometric like you think it is.

Too High! the UK Equivalent Pricing for the 64GB is £700 which is $1200!. You are getting it cheap!

We go through this every time there's a new product launch :rolleyes:

US prices don't have sales tax included (anywhere between 7 and 10%) so you have to add that onto the price of the phone. Plus the VAT which is included in the UK price is 20%. Do a little math and the pre-tax price of the iPhone in the UK is £583, or $928. Still a bit more expensive than the US, but a far cry from the $351 difference you claim it is.

US Pricing of iPhone 4S 64GB Handset only is $849! Yet that is £530! it costs £500 to buy the 16GB Version here in the UK! I paid £700 for the 64GB iPhone 4S here. That is equivalent to $1,120.

Why so cheap over there? It's basically the same phone. Yet in the UK we pay £170/$270 more for exactly the same phone?

Couple of things to think about:

1/ We have better consumer protection laws which will allow you under certain circumstances to get repairs well beyond the manufacturers warrantee period (and the manufacturer therefore has to factor the cost of this into the phone).

2/ Americans get completely screwed on call plans and costs. We don't get charged when people call or text us (yay!), and in the US there's no way you'd get a deal like GiffGaff:
£10 / $16 per month for 250min talk, unlimited text, unlimited data

As much as I love Apple, I think the off-contract prices are too high. Begin the down-voting.

They are pretty consistent with off-contract prices for other phones. Nokia used to sell the N97 for $699 back in 2009, for instance.

Compare Android phone off-contrast prices. Apple's are much higher. And who buys Nokia anymore anyways?

You're up six votes this morning so it seems at least some agree with you.

I don't understand why someone would pay $900 for a device they're likely to replace in a year or two. I don't even pay that much for a bicycle, which never becomes obsolete at all.

If you travel outside of the country 1-2 times per year, paying the extra $450 premium is a no-brainer. I purchased an unlocked iPhone 4 last year, and used it in 6 different countries:

1. In Canada, I spent $10, which included 125MB of data for a week, and unlimited evenings and weekend calls for 3 days. I live 30 miles from Canada and go there several times a year.

2. In Singapore, I spent about $20, which gave me unlimited incoming calls for 30 days and 50MB of data, which I used sparingly.

3. In Hong Kong, I spent about $12 and had unlimited data for about 3-4 days, including tethering.

4. In Macau, I spent about $12 and had unlimited data for about 4 days.

5. In Bali, Indonesia, I think I spent about $10, and I had plenty of data to use for the 3 days I was there.

6. In China, I think I paid $30 for 600MB and unlimited incoming calls that lasted me for almost a month.

With a locked iPhone, I would have had to subscribe to AT&T's international data roaming plan for $200 for 800MB (back then it was $200 for 100MB) and still pay $3 per minute for calls.

I still don't get the advantage of unlocked phones here in the US unless you are a frequent traveller outside the country. You are gonna be paying same monthly recurring fees subsidized or not.

No, you don't have to.

There are tens of thousands of iPhones right now with AT&T GoPhone SIMs.

If your telephone usage is minimal, it's a very viable option, but you have to calculate your own usage habits and do the math.

I think I can live with 250MB of 3G data per month. With AT&T's cheapest postpaid iPhone data plan, you get 250MB of data at $15 per month. With GoPhone, you can buy a 500GB data package for $25 which will last thirty days. However, if you buy a new data package before the expiration date, the unused data will rollover for thirty days. Hence, you can purchase a 10MB data package for $5. Total two month cost: $30 for 510MB of data, which is actually cheaper than the postpaid plan.

Calls are ten cents a minute. I average about 30 minutes of talk time on my current dumb phone (on a T-Mobile Pay As You Go SIM). I use Google Voice for my light texting on an iPod touch.

Thus, my monthly telecom expenses would average to $18. Despite the higher initial handset cost ($849 for a 64GB model), my monthly expenses are lower and the break even point is at eleven months, after which I am saving money compared to the AT&T subscriber who pays $399 for the same subsidized (and locked) handset (and ~$30 activation fee) plus another $55 per month for the cheapest call/data combo (450 min/250GB).

Over a two year period, I will have saved something like $450 and I am using ever single penny I paid for.

I will have an unlocked phone that can be easily used abroad, plus I have something that has a higher resell value on the used market.

Many if not most iPhone users with GoPhone SIMs have done similar analyses on their own usage patterns and have reached similar conclusions.

As much as I love Apple, I think the off-contract prices are too high. Begin the down-voting.

They are pretty consistent with off-contract prices for other phones. Nokia used to sell the N97 for $699 back in 2009, for instance.

For people that complaint about why Apple products are so expensive outside of the US. Well don't blame it on Apple, but your government taxing companies importing product in the country.

Cost comparison between AT&T iPhone 4S and unlocked 4S

I just created a PDF to quickly demonstrate it is cheaper to buy an unlocked iPhone 4S instead of buying one with A&T.

In the study I'm comparing AT&T unlimited $99 plan (same as Sprint of Verizon) with a $45 plan from StraighTalk.

After 8 months of service alone in the US both services will cost app. the same (monthly fee + phone). After 9 months it is only cost saving for you.

If you're traveling abroad the cost saving will be even more attractive.