Tech fans can get the latest Apple and Samsung smartphones for a fraction of the price if bought online on US sites compared to here in the UK. We put it to the test and found huge savings on Samsung and Apple products including £300 off the iPhone 14 Pro.
It's no secret that the price of your average new smartphone can easily reach £1,500 as brands consistently bring out new models with the latest high-end spec. The iPhone 14 Pro for example starts at £1,099 for shoppers in the UK (128GB model) but unbenknown to many it could be bought for £799.
It's all thanks to the US Apple site which is selling the model for a lot cheaper and when adding up US shopping tax and the price it would cost to ship here in the UK it still works out at £300 cheaper.
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The iPhone 14 Pro costs $999 which works out to be £805.27 with the current dollar to pound exchange rate, exactly £294 cheaper than the UK price. We found this by doing a simple location change on the Apple site, changing the currency into US Dollars.
Customers should also factor in the UK price reflects VAT, a tax which isn't shown on the shelves in the US but rather added at the tills or checkout. Taking this into consideration the $999 iPhone 14 Pro would cost US shoppers an added 6.44% in tax (on average) to around $1,064 or £857.9 but this still leaves a £241 difference between the two prices.
Similar savings can also be found for other tech brands, like Google and Samsung. We headed over to the US Samsung website and found the latest S23 Ultra device for $1199, when converted into pounds works out at £943.21. Next we add on the average 6.44% tax (which varies from state to state) and would end up paying £1,003 after tax.
The UK price of the S23 Ultra is £1,399 so even before the cost of shipping customers are looking at a saving of £396 simply for buying the device on the US website.
After finding there was huge amounts of money to be saved the next step was figuring out how to get the tech products back to the UK without losing the savings on shipping costs. This is where the online service Reship came in. Using the service, shoppers can buy an iPhone for £241 cheaper or the S23 Ultra for £396 cheaper at the US Apple store and send it to the UK via Reship, which allocates UK shoppers a virtual American address and ships it from there to their home UK address.
Reship allows customers to estimate the cost of their desired US package, whether its from Apple, Walmart, Target so you can guarantee a saving after shipping costs. Of course this comes with an added shipping cost, but after having a look for ourselves we've worked out that shoppers would still make more than a £200 saving.
How much does it cost to ship from the US?
Obviously, this was the first thought that came to mind, as there's no point finding a cheap deal but then spending inflated shipping costs. After a quick scour it doesn't seem to be as expensive as what may first come to mind.
Shipping costs for an iPhone 14 Pro start at $34.14 (£27.50) with USPS First Class and go up to $100 depending on the provider. Having looked at the options we'd recommend the $47 package with FedEx which takes up to six business days.
The $999 iPhone 14 Pro cost plus added US shopping tax and the $47 shipping cost comes to $1,111 or £895 in total, still £204 cheaper compared to the price of buying it online from Apple, or in store, in the UK.
Will I be able to use US tech in the UK?
Again this is another point worth checking before jumping on a bargain deal and always worth checking before going ahead with the purchase.
This is what the Apple website states in terms of buying an iPhone outside of the UK. It says: "You can activate an unlocked iPhone 14 model that was purchased in the United States with over 400 network providers in 100 countries all over the world that support eSIM on iPhone."
A US-bought iPhone will work in the UK but there are differences, namely, it doesn't have a SIM tray and uses a different type of 5G network. but there are ways of getting around this, in the same way thousands of US tourists buy holiday SIMs here in the UK.
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