What does “cheaper”
really mean?

The number on the shelf doesn’t tell the whole story. We separate the payment, the refund and the costs of bringing your phone home.

The calculation

1. Start with the outright store price for the exact model and storage.
2. Add any purchase taxes not already included.
3. Convert the gross payment using the entered exchange rate, then add card markup.
4. Subtract an eligible refund after operator fees.
5. Add import taxes and additional device-registration costs without counting any tax twice.
6. Compare with the same phone’s home price, if one is available.

What is live in this preview?

Prices come from exact-variant observations on public Apple regional store pages, with source links and observation dates. Dated manual Thailand observations remain as fallback. Missing markets and variants stay unknown. The website also reads validated observations from accepted database releases, refreshing every five minutes. An hourly scheduler visits one of 18 regional stores, so each store is scheduled once daily. Parser failures and access blocks preserve the last accepted observations. Availability and purchase-tax inclusion are not inferred. Tourist-refund guides link to manually reviewed official sources across supported markets, with explicit unknowns and location-specific exceptions. These rules are not a live feed. Prices older than three days are marked older; after seven days they are hidden from the comparison and excluded from quote autofill. Currency conversion uses Frankfurter’s latest daily reference rates, cached for up to one hour. The reference date is shown; these are not intraday, card or cash quotes. Rates older than seven days are rejected, and API failure never substitutes invented rates. You may override the rate in personal quote mode. Production pages are indexable; coverage remains incomplete and source dates and limitations are disclosed.

Unknown never means free

We don’t treat missing import duties or registration charges as zero. Until both are entered, you see a purchase subtotal, not a landed-cost verdict. Country profiles are research candidates, not verified legal advice.

Assumptions in the personal calculator

One phone, carried by a traveler on an already-planned trip. Refunds use the original conversion rate in this interface. The standard-card option applies an illustrative 3% markup to the gross payment. Check your card’s actual fees, use an FX rate before that markup, and confirm any refund eligibility. Shipping, flights and hotels are excluded.

Customs is not just a percentage

Your residence, arrival method, other purchases, intended use and device registration can change the answer. We are researching versioned official rules before automating these decisions. A relative bringing a phone may have different circumstances from your own trip.

Sources and automation

Sources are Apple regional store pages and the Frankfurter API (frankfurter.dev). The collector reads public pages at low frequency, checks robots rules and stops on access blocks or rate limits. This project is independent of Apple and does not claim Apple’s permission or endorsement. See our source-linked tourist refund guides. In personal quote mode, refunds require your explicit confirmation and actual net quote. The main best-price comparison models eligibility and tax-inclusive prices as assumptions, not verified facts. It sorts all available displayed starting prices together, cheapest first. Cash is the first/default payment option, without an assumed card markup; actual exchange spreads may add costs. Supported scenarios: Thailand uses its published refund table, UAE includes published administration fees, Australia uses the GST component, Hong Kong has no VAT deduction, and the US uses an explicitly labeled Oregon purchase/delivery scenario with no general sales tax or tourist refund. Singapore, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland show theoretical price floors before variable operator fees, not guaranteed net prices. Without a refund model, the observed price still competes with no refund assumed and any unknown additional taxes disclosed. Missing or expired prices and unavailable exchange rates cannot win. Payment markup remains charged on the gross purchase; import costs are excluded. Models stop after their source-review deadline. The no-refund purchase subtotal remains visible. Reconfirm after changing the price, taxes or refund quote.

Read all tourist-refund guides ↗

Compatibility deserves a separate check

SIM configuration, local-network support, regional features and warranty must be checked against the actual regional model. A lower estimated cost is not a guarantee of suitability.