r/Ameristralia • u/Loud-Tell1908 • 20h ago
Buying the iPhone 18
Hey guys, I'm looking to buy the iPhone 18 Pro or 17, not really picky. I'm based in Sydney but my sister is in California and we'll be seeing each other over the holidays. I'm trying to decide two things:
Should I buy the iPhone 18 Pro or the 17? I'm a university student, and I work at a corporate office, so that's how I'll be using my phone.
Should I buy it in the US or here in Sydney? If I buy it in the US, I'll be doing a click-and-collect online, so my sister just has to go pick it up. I've never done this before, so I'm also curious about the currency conversion rates and stuff.
Anyone with any insight?
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u/SkipKahluaStonkCwboy 20h ago
The thing about California is the sales tax varies by location and can even change down to the neighborhood the way some city boundaries in counties and districts are drawn lmao. It’ll come down to where the store is located at where she picks the phone up.
Another option is, if she lives in a lower tax area than the store, to have it shipped to her house; then the tax is based on the delivery address. Some places in the US do same day courier from the apple store or delivery within a week, usually fedex all included in the sale (unless you want to expedite it or same day courier and its usually a few extra bucks)
They have statewide sales, county sales, and then city taxes and they all stack so check up on that
You’ll pay by card and in USD, depending on your card the conversion will be done in such a way where there may or may not be a fee, either way the bank does the conversion for you, sometimes they’re pretty fair about sometimes not; in my experience its about right. But i know banks down under are real penny pinchers so I assume its prob not good haha. Also i know alot aussies and kiwis don’t have credit cards, if you pay by debit card, at least here in the US, its very very common to have large foreign transactions fees when doing conversions in foreign currencies on debit cards this is usually not the case with credit cards, this is worth a check on your part.
When you click and collect you’ll have to add her as the person picking it up and shell most likely need ID
Assuming worst case she lives or picks the phone up in a high tax rate area I dont think you would be saving much. The math changes if you are buying in a “low” tax area. But you would just end up with an american phone (no sim tray for example, if thats important to you) for about the same as you would get in Australia I think, you might save a few bucks.
Need to know where shes located at, what store you plan on buying at, if you will be paying any fees on the conversion, etc etc.
Sorry cant help on the 17 vs 18, I still have a 13 mini lol
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u/Head_Finance8535 14h ago
Your sister will have to declare it in the incoming passenger card and risk an import tax. Plus usual extended consumer protections we have in Australia will not be applied to your iPhone. Means something is off with your phone and you don’t have expensive Apple care, your options are limited for any remedy here.
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u/oiransc2 13h ago
I’m not sure this is still true but I was actually able to get the extended protection added in Australia but it involved sitting on the phone with customer service for over an hour being transferred around several times before I found someone senior enough to even understand and follow through with the request. As long as the item is new. For me it was a MacBook Pro and I wanted the Apple care so they registered the serial number Australia side and set it all up for me. This was 5 years ago so mileage may vary now.
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u/frenchie221 8h ago
We bought an IPad Pro 13’ in LA last week and were able to add it to Apple Care one here in Aus in no time
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u/Practical_Course4626 19h ago
iPhones in the US don’t have the physical sim card slot.