Buying from Apple Store in Hawaii

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jamesrt

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#229100 7-Feb-2018 17:14

Hi,

My daughter will be in Hawaii later in in the month; and is very keen on buying an iPhone 8 from the AppleStore there.

However, as she does actually live in NZ; there are a couple of questions:

1. I believe that the modern iPhones these days have the same cell-phone chipset regardless of country of purchase, so it should work over here with no major issues; is this correct?

2. Warranty. Apple's Warranty states something along the lines of "Apple may restrict warranty service for iphone ... to the country where Apple ... originally sold the device".

Has anyone had recent experience with warranty service in NZ with an iPhone purchased in-store in another country?

Does anyone know if AppleCare purchased in NZ would provide coverage for an iPhone originally purchased in-store in another country?

antoniosk

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#1953187 7-Feb-2018 18:48

Good questions

Don't forget the State of Hawaii levies it's own State & Sales taxes on all purchases, which will add about 10% to the retail price. Don't know if they have a tax refund system in place for visitors.

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jamesrt

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#1953213 7-Feb-2018 18:54

antoniosk: Good questions

Thanks!

antoniosk: Don't forget the State of Hawaii levies it's own State & Sales taxes on all purchases, which will add about 10% to the retail price. Don't know if they have a tax refund system in place for visitors.

O'ahu sales tax is 4.5%; not sure where you calculate 10% from; but I'm hardly the tax expert. No State Tax as far as I'm aware.

I'll have to look into visitor tax-refunds...

Good points.

antoniosk

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#1953245 7-Feb-2018 19:21

Quite right, I confused the hotel taxes with GET, my bad.

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PhantomNVD

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#1953291 7-Feb-2018 20:20

I bought an iPhone 6 from Trademe which was still under warranty (but it was originally from AU) and when I had a screen issue at only 10 months old Apple wouldn’t honour the warranty outside the country of purchase.

Decided that I’d need a really good price reduction to bother with a non NZ iPhone ever again.

CYaBro

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#1953299 7-Feb-2018 20:47

We’ve done warranty repairs on Apple products, including iPhones, that were bought overseas.
Had no issues processing those types of repairs.
The problem comes when the device is out of warranty but could still be covered under consumer law in the country of purchase. For those repairs to be covered you’d need to get it back to where you bought it from.
If the device has AppleCare then that’s covered by Apple in any country as far as I know.

danielparker

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#1953340 7-Feb-2018 21:46

My daughter will be in Hawaii later in in the month; and is very keen on buying an iPhone 8 from the AppleStore there.

Technically She will have to declare it on her arrival card:

https://www.customs.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/forms/passenger-arrival-card-english-language-version.pdf

Which might trigger GST in import (There is no duty on an iPhone)

DFP

scuwp

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#1953423 8-Feb-2018 07:59

danielparker:

My daughter will be in Hawaii later in in the month; and is very keen on buying an iPhone 8 from the AppleStore there.

Technically She will have to declare it on her arrival card:

https://www.customs.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/forms/passenger-arrival-card-english-language-version.pdf

Which might trigger GST in import (There is no duty on an iPhone)

DFP

Unbox it and they would never know you didn't have it when you left the country.

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity - Robert J Hanlon

Dingbatt

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#1953441 8-Feb-2018 08:28

scuwp:
danielparker:

My daughter will be in Hawaii later in in the month; and is very keen on buying an iPhone 8 from the AppleStore there.

Technically She will have to declare it on her arrival card:

https://www.customs.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/forms/passenger-arrival-card-english-language-version.pdf

Which might trigger GST in import (There is no duty on an iPhone)

DFP

Unbox it and they would never know you didn't have it when you left the country.

It is still smuggling if it was purchased outside NZ, has a value of more than $700, and isn't declared. What you are suggesting is illegal.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

danza

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#1958108 14-Feb-2018 15:29

Yeah be honest and declare it if you have any doubt. They will probably not bother you with anything after seeing you having the box opened and the phone in use already.

Also make sure you buy the sim-free version of iphone to get the supposedly better qualcomm modem instead of the intel model. And it will ensure that the phone is unlocked.

jamesrt

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#1958109 14-Feb-2018 15:32

Update: She’s decided to buy locally.

I think this was a wise decision, myself.

lxsw20

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#1958370 15-Feb-2018 00:21

IIRC US iPhones use an Intel Radio Chipset, rather than the Broadcom(?) one that is used everywhere else.