Apple reopens Russian online store after boosting iPhone 6 price by 35%
Last week, the Cupertino, Calif. company shuttered its Russian e-market after the ruble took a dive when currency markets devalued the oil-dependent country's ruble.
Although the ruble has recovered somewhat -- on Monday it was trading at 54.49 to the dollar, an improvement from near 80 at one point last week -- Apple boosted the price of the 16GB iPhone 6 to 53,990 rubles today, equivalent to $991.
Before Apple shut the virtual doors to its online store, that same iPhone 6 had been selling for 39,900 rubles, equal to $574 on Monday, Dec. 15, at that day's exchange rate.
Apple had increased the price of the iPhone 6 by 25% in November in an earlier move to deal with the falling ruble.
Although Apple does not have brick-and-mortar stores of its own in Russia -- the nearest are in Germany, Sweden and Turkey -- local resellers and mobile carriers sell its hardware. One of those resellers, the Svyaznoy electronics chain, priced the 16GB iPhone 6 on Monday at 48,990 rubles -- equivalent to $899 -- or 9% lower than Apple's price.
A 16GB iPhone 6 without a carrier contract sells for $649 in the U.S.
According to IDC, Apple sold approximately 1.6 million iPhones in Russia in 2013, or about 1% of its total worldwide that year.
Other Apple hardware sold on the company's Russian online store was also priced much higher than in the U.S. A 16GB iPhone Plus, which sells for $749 in the U.S., cost 61,990 rubles, equal to $1,138; the lowest-priced 13-in. MacBook Air was priced at 77,990 rubles (or $1,431), while the U.S. price Monday was $999.