Apple has pushed up the UK prices of all its computers to compensate for Brexit’s impact on the strength of the pound against the dollar.
The move comes after the company revealed three new MacBook Pros at a “special event” in California last night (Thursday).
The base prices of the next generation laptops are higher than previous models, regardless of where in the world you buy them.
But in Britain they are at least £450 more expensive than their predecessors, after Apple revised its UK computer price list to factor in poor exchange rates.
The move follows a price hike for a number of other Apple products in the UK last month.
Until last night (Thursday), a 13” MacBook Pro started at £999, but the new 13” MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar will now cost £1,449, while the model with a Touch Bar will cost £1,749. A 15” Pro previously started at £1,599, but the new model starts at £2,349.
If you’d rather buy the existing 13” MacBook Pro you can still do so, but it will now set you back £1,249. The new prices roughly equate to the US prices, plus a standard USD/GBP exchange, and 20% for VAT, as the Guardian’s Alex Hern first noted on Twitter.
But while the difference between UK and US prices appear to be in line with actual exchange rates, some have questioned whether the base US prices for the new MacBook Pro’s are justified.
Quartz’s Mike Murphy said the computers “don’t seem wildly different from their predecessors”, adding that if you want to upgrade your new MacBook’s storage, you’ll have to pay prices which are “detached from reality”.
Apple’s decision to replace conventional USB ports with Thunderbolt 3 ports means users will have to fork out for adapters to use many existing devices.
Existing Apple computers also got a price hike. The base iMac 4k rose by £250 to £1,449. The base iMac 5k rose by £300 to £1,749. The base Mac Pro rose by £500 to £2,999 and even the base Mac Mini went up by £80 to £479.