Apple Increasing App Store Prices in Turkey Amid Continued Economic Instability

[MacRumors]

Apple today informed developers that it is raising the prices of apps and in-app purchases in Turkey due to changes in foreign exchange rates. The pricing changes will go into effect in the next few days.

When taxes or foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store in certain regions and/or adjust your proceeds.

In the next few days, prices of apps and in-app purchases (excluding auto-renewable subscriptions) on the App Store will increase in Turkey. Your proceeds will be adjusted accordingly and will be calculated based on the tax-exclusive price.

Once these changes go into effect, the Pricing and Availability section of My Apps will be updated. You can change the price of your apps and in-app purchases (including auto-renewable subscriptions) at any time in App Store Connect. If you offer subscriptions, you can choose to preserve prices for existing subscribers.

Tier 1 apps in the country will now be priced starting at 16.99 lira, up from the 10.99 price that was set in October when Apple first raised its App Store pricing in Turkey. 16.99 is equivalent to approximately $1.24 at the current time.

Apple in late November temporarily halted sales of devices in Turkey with the deepening of the country's economic crisis. Apple's online store in the country stopped allowing customers to make purchases, as did some retail locations.

Apple resumed sales in Turkey a few days after the pause, introducing significant price increases. An iPhone 13, for example, is priced at 14.999 TL, up from the original 11.999 TL price before the hike.

The value of the Turkish lira has seen a significant drop over the course of the last few weeks, continuing a trend that began last year. A Turkish lira is now equivalent to approximately 0.073 U.S. dollars.

Article Link: Apple Increasing App Store Prices in Turkey Amid Continued Economic Instability

 

[Ballis]

Poor judgement imo. I get that devs expect to get paid, but really?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

That’s sad. No freebie in Turkey

 

[contacos]

Not surprised.

YouTube Premium in Germany: 15,99 Euro
YouTube Premium Turkey about a year ago: 1,80 Euro (already an indicator how bad the currency was)
YouTube Premium Turkey this month: 1,40 Euro (even worse / good for me, now)

 

[ilikewhey]

i have 10 people asking me to bring iphone for them ?funny part is if you bring a foreign phone you have to pay the gov't 2k lira to be used as a regular turkish phone, but even with the added 2k lira, its still alot cheaper than buying a iphone from apple in turkey.

 

[ghanwani]

Apple revenue is bigger than most countries GDP, so I think it's time for Apple to create an AppleCoin and have their products priced in AppleCoins.

 

[ddtmm]

While it would be cool to see Apple make some concessions and give them a break, the problem is that people outside Turkey will take advantage of it and that's where Apple will lose money. They kind of have to do what they're doing. Pretty unfortunate for Turkey though.

 

[TheOldChevy]

The problem with inflation is not so much the impact on the iPhone price. But food and energy price.

 

[bingeciren]

i have 10 people asking me to bring iphone for them ?funny part is if you bring a foreign phone you have to pay the gov't 2k lira to be used as a regular turkish phone, but even with the added 2k lira, its still alot cheaper than buying a iphone from apple in turkey.

There is a caveat for that however, the imported phone after paying the government registration fee is locked to the importer's citizenship ID. This means another person cannot use that phone with their own SIM card, and it renders the phone worthless for resale in Turkey.

 

[FlyingDutch]

While it would be cool to see Apple make some concessions and give them a break, the problem is that people outside Turkey will take advantage of it and that's where Apple will lose money. They kind of have to do what they're doing. Pretty unfortunate for Turkey though.

I think with that kind of economy, in Turkey they now have bigger issues than buy an iPhone at good price.

 

[ilikewhey]

There is a caveat for that however, the imported phone after paying the government registration fee is locked to the importer's citizenship ID. This means another person cannot use that phone with their own SIM card, and it renders the phone worthless for resale in Turkey.

they want me to bring it for their own personal consumption not flipping it on the market.

 

[justperry]

Erdogan won't last if inflation will continue to do damage to Turkey's economy.

 

[bingeciren]

they want me to bring it for their own personal consumption not flipping it on the market.

That’s fine. I wanted to inform uninformed people about the restrictions imposed on personally imported phones to Turkey. With this restriction one cannot handover the phone even to a relative. They can use their phone forever, or sell it where it was originally purchased.

 

[svish]

Bad for the people of Turkey. Apple devices may also see another round of price hike.

 

[MacBH928]

Not surprised.

YouTube Premium in Germany: 15,99 Euro
YouTube Premium Turkey about a year ago: 1,80 Euro (already an indicator how bad the currency was)
YouTube Premium Turkey this month: 1,40 Euro (even worse / good for me, now)

how is it getting lower? shouldn't it increase in inflation?

 

[justperry]

Not surprised.

YouTube Premium in Germany: 15,99 Euro
YouTube Premium Turkey about a year ago: 1,80 Euro (already an indicator how bad the currency was)
YouTube Premium Turkey this month: 1,40 Euro (even worse / good for me, now)

It's even cheaper in India, might be even cheaper in some other third world country.

 

[contacos]

how is it getting lower? shouldn't it increase in inflation?

I think Google didn’t adjust the price in Turkey but I am paying in Euro and thus it is cheaper when you convert it back from lira to euro. At least that explanation just made sense in my head lol