New VAT rate – what it means for Apple customers

Christopher Phin - 22 June 2010 - 3:14pm

It was announced in today's budget that the VAT rate is set to increase from 17·5% to 20% in January. What does this mean for Apple customers? We plugged all the prices for the current range of Macs, iPods, iPads, handset-only iPhones and a few accessories into a spreadsheet to find out what would happen if Apple implemented the new VAT rate straight.

	CURRENT PRICE	EX-VAT PRICE	PRICE AT 20% VAT	PRICE INCREASE
Mac
MacBook	£849	£723	£867	£18
MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.4GHz	£999	£850	£1,020	£21
MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.66GHz	£1,249	£1,063	£1,276	£27
MacBook Pro 15-inch 2.4GHz	£1,499	£1,276	£1,531	£32
MacBook Pro 15-inch 2.53GHz	£1,649	£1,403	£1,684	£35
MacBook Pro 15-inch 2.66GHz	£1,799	£1,531	£1,837	£38
MacBook Pro 17-inch 2.53GHz	£1,899	£1,616	£1,939	£40
MacBook Air 1.86GHz	£1,174	£999	£1,199	£25
MacBook Air 2.13GHz	£1,378	£1,173	£1,407	£29
Mac mini 2.4GHz	£649	£552	£663	£14
Mac mini server edition	£929	£791	£949	£20
iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz (NVIDIA)	£969	£825	£990	£21
iMac 21.5-inch 3.06GHz (ATI)	£1,225	£1,043	£1,251	£26
iMac 27-inch 3.06GHz	£1,378	£1,173	£1,407	£29
iMac 27-inch 2.66GHz	£1,634	£1,391	£1,669	£35
Mac Pro Quad-Core	£1,940	£1,651	£1,981	£41
Mac Pro 8-Core	£2,553	£2,173	£2,607	£54

iPod
iPod shuffle 2GB	£46	£39	£47	£1
iPod shuffle 4GB	£60	£51	£61	£1
iPod shuffle 4GB stainless steel	£77	£66	£79	£2
iPod nano 8GB	£118	£100	£121	£3
iPod nano 16GB	£138	£117	£141	£3
iPod classic 160GB	£193	£164	£197	£4
iPod touch 8GB	£153	£130	£156	£3
iPod touch 32GB	£234	£199	£239	£5
iPod touch 64GB	£306	£260	£313	£7

iPad
iPad Wi-Fi 16GB	£429	£365	£438	£9
iPad Wi-Fi 32GB	£499	£425	£510	£11
iPad Wi-Fi 64GB	£599	£510	£612	£13
iPad Wi-Fi + 3G 16GB	£529	£450	£540	£11
iPad Wi-Fi + 3G 32GB	£599	£510	£612	£13
iPad Wi-Fi + 3G 64GB	£699	£595	£714	£15

iPhone
iPhone 3GS 8GB	£419	£357	£428	£9
iPhone 4 16GB	£499	£425	£510	£11
iPhone 4 32GB	£599	£510	£612	£13

Accessories
AirPort Extreme Base Station	£142	£121	£145	£3
Time Capsule 1TB	£234	£199	£239	£5
Time Capsule 2TB	£388	£330	£396	£8
LED Cinema Display	£649	£552	£663	£14
Wireless keyboard	£56	£48	£57	£1
Magic Mouse	£56	£48	£57	£1

Now, you shouldn't take these calculations as gospel; it's possible that prices will change over the next few months, and Apple will almost certainly manually tweak the figures to hit particular price points.

It's also worth noting that even in the most extreme case, the 8-Core Mac Pro, the price rise is only £54 – not even enough to buy a Magic Mouse. So while a tax increase is never fun, the additional 2·13% on top of the existing prices isn't especially painful.

What do you think of the news? (Um, as it pertains to Apple; please don't let the comments thread deteriorate into political slanging matches!)