Apple raises UK prices on iPhone 7 and other products after Brexit woes

Apple raises UK prices on iPhone 7 and other products after Brexit woes ,

The new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are going to cost more than their predecessors in the UK because of currency fluctuations caused by the Brexit vote. While the cheapest iPhone 6S was priced at £539 last year, the cheapest iPhone 7 will set customers back £599 instead. The price bump for the cheapest Plus model is even larger — from £619 for the iPhone 6S Plus to £719 for the iPhone 7 Plus. That's a difference of £100 or $133.

Of course, these new models all have double the storage of last year's iPhones, but in the US, Apple isn't charging any extra for this increased capacity on the smaller iPhone. The iPhone 6S with 16GB of storage cost $649 when it was announced last year, and the iPhone 7 with 32GB of storage costs the same this year. (The Plus has a small price increase of $20.) That means the UK price increase is likely just a reflection of the weak pound, which plummeted in value against the dollar after the UK voted to leave the European Union. We reached out to Apple to confirm this but at the time of publication had not heard back.

Read more: The 11 most important things from Apple's iPhone 7 event

This isn't out of the ordinary, and price adjustments took place in other markets — sometimes to the benefit of the consumer. In Japan, for example, the iPhone 6S originally went on sale for ¥86,800 yen, but the iPhone 7 base model costs ¥72,800 yen instead. That's a savings of around $120, thanks to appreciation of Japan's currency.

The price changes in the UK weren't limited to iPhones either. The Apple Pencil went up from £79 to £99, and the Sport Band for the Apple Watch now costs £49 instead of £39. And although the iPad Pro got a price cut in the US, with $50 off 128GB models and $100 off 256GB models, in the UK, the prices went up — from £499 for the 32GB 9.7-inch model, to £549 today. The 12.9-inch base model also went up from £679 to £729, with similar bumps for other memory options. Let this be a warning to other countries contemplating similar secessions: not only will your currency crash, but your iPhones will be more expensive, too.

Update September 8th, 8:29AM ET: Article has been updated to clarify that the US iPhone 7 Plus is more expensive than last year's iPhone 6S Plus.