Apple is planning to open an Apple Store in Buenos Aires in 2018, according to Gizmodo en Español. The store will be Apple's first official retail location in Argentina, but it is not yet clear where it will be located in the city.
As Apple plans to open its first store in Argentina, several third-party retailers will also start selling Apple products. Starting in 2017, electronics chain Frávega will open 15 store-within-a-store locations that offer a range of Apple products. It is not known, however, if the Frávega locations will be offering the iPhone.
At the current point in time, Apple products are exorbitantly expensive in Argentina due to taxes, tariffs, and inflation. Products sell for up to three times as much in Argentina as they do in the United States. The entry-level iPad Pro, for example, sells for $1,418 (22,149 pesos) compared to $599 in the U.S.
Argentina just announced plans to remove a 35 percent import tariff on computers, laptops, and tablets, which, along with a local Apple Store, could lower prices for Argentinian Apple customers.
Apple retail stores have been slow to roll out in Latin America. Apple has two stores in Brazil and just recently opened its first Apple Store in Mexico City. Apple is rumored to be planning to open additional stores in Mexico in Guadalajara and Monterrey, along with locations in Chile and Peru.
Top Rated Comments
I worked for Apple Aventura for many years... the store's staff unilaterally found Argentineans in most cases to be very difficult, elitist customers that were challenging to serve. Most especially the Argentineans who worked for the store. They wouldn't even give my buddy the time of day because she was Cuban.
In part this is because being able to afford travel to the US and buy Apple products naturally means that individual is in the 1% elite of their country, but these folks were never shy to let people know it. Humility is not what comes to mind from that group, Argentineans themselves know it.
Still, BA is a huge city with plenty of wealthy enough people to buy Apple products; this will just save them all those trips to the USA and provide local service.
Also, the import tariff removal doesn't include phones, so the iPhone is something we might not see afterall. Mobile phones have to be assembled in the country, and Apple is not really interested in doing that. We're not India.
There's been times I've had to fly to the US and back during a weekend just for an iPhone swap.
We don't even have carrier bundle support, it's pretty sad. It's a nightmare when iMessage stops activating, no visual voicemail, no native wifi calls, nada.
Regarding Fravega, it's a messy retail chain with lousy sellers. Unless they train them to sell Apple products, I'm not seeing it as a success.
[doublepost=1507736848][/doublepost]I've had the same experience with the few I've met. They remind of the Russians as well. I just have to laugh.
The only problem is going through Customs without being robbed both illegally and then legally (import tax).
Hopefully people in Argentina will be able to purchase an Apple device without having to travel to the U.S.