Purchasing iphone in Dubai

EoghanIRL

Hello.
I have an opportunity to purchase an iPhone 6 or 6 plus in Dubai duty free soon.
They have a 5% discount meaning the 6 works out at 600 euros , a decent saving.
My questions is
A) is there any downside to purchasing one in Dubai?
can this price be beaten?

Thanks.

Zapp Brannigan

Don't the phones in Dubai lack FaceTime?

FourFourRED

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Don't the phones in Dubai lack FaceTime?

Nope.

whiterebel

Check the warranty situation on it. Years ago products purchased in the middle east had no warranties, hence the cheap prices. Apple site should tell you.

FourFourRED

whiterebel wrote: »

Check the warranty situation on it. Years ago products purchased in the middle east had no warranties, hence the cheap prices. Apple site should tell you.

More than likely if he has any issue with it hardware wise, he will have to present it to an Apple Store. They may need to order in the parts.

raytaxi

Friend was living in Dubai, and only way he could use FaceTime was with a vpn. He did say local phones had FaceTime disabled.

FourFourRED

raytaxi wrote: »

Friend was living in Dubai, and only way he could use FaceTime was with a vpn. He did say local phones had FaceTime disabled.

FaceTime isn't available or might not appear on devices purchased in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan.

EoghanIRL

The only place I could find it for cheaper was here , http://www.pixmania.ie/iphones/apple-iphone-6-16-gb-4g-space-grey-new/22298260-a.html.

However after a quick search of pixmania it seems like they should be avoided? Anyone ever purchase an iphone from them?

coylemj

EoghanIRL wrote: »

However after a quick search of pixmania it seems like they should be avoided?

Pixmania was originally a French company and was one of the first internet mail order companies which specialized in selling digital cameras, hence the name. It was very successful, so much so that it was taken over by DSG, a UK plc which is the the parent company of the electrical retail chain trading under the names Dixons/PC World/Currys.

The bean counters in DSG decided that the French employees were being paid too much so they moved the customer support operation to Romania. Before long, customer care then went down the toilet (monkeys/peanuts etc.) and the Pixmania brand became so toxic that DSG decided to dump it.

A lot of reports on boards are not too complimentary on their service, I'd avoid them.

enda1

Well with the new one coming out in a week or so would it not be prudent to wait a bit and see how the prices evolve?

EoghanIRL

Yeah,I am in no rush to buy one.
Just trying to get the best deal.
Might as well see what the 6s has to offer at this stage and how much the 6 will go down by.

StonyIron

Make sure that the phone supports the Irish networks' LTE / 4G bands.

Band 20 (800MHz) is most commonly used here at the moment. I've checked on the field test menu on an iPhone 6 with both 3 and Vodafone and that's what's mostly popping up. It's probably got the best signal propagation due to the low frequency (unlike 3G 2100MHz)

Band 3 is also used (1800MHz)

Band 8 is also licences (900MHz)

----

Irish 3G is on primarily 2100MHz but increasingly also on 900MHz as 2G fades into disuse.

2G GSM is on standard 900MHz and 1800MHz

If you're missing any of these you'll have poor / restricted coverage, even though your phone may work most of the time.

Check the exact model numbers. In general any EU destined model will work flawlessly in Ireland though as we all share harmonised standards (just some countries are opting to use different bands for LTE but they're from a standardised group that all handsets are supposed to support)

jay93

I think the iPhone 6 and 6+ all the models have support for Irish LTE As opposed to the 5s and 5. So you should be fine with that.

Monkeysgomad

EoghanIRL wrote: »

Hello.
I have an opportunity to purchase an iPhone 6 or 6 plus in Dubai duty free soon.
They have a 5% discount meaning the 6 works out at 600 euros , a decent saving.
My questions is
A) is there any downside to purchasing one in Dubai?
can this price be beaten?

Thanks.

You could also try one of them shops 'iconnect' there is one in whitewater shopping centre in newbridge Kildare. They are really good prices.

StonyIron

FourFourFM wrote: »

FaceTime isn't available or might not appear on devices purchased in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan.

It's disabled by state censorship blocking and monitoring access at the network level not on the phone itself.

It applies in quite a few authoritarian states and dictatorships, notably China and Iran where the whole country is behind a firewall that both blocks access to IP ranges, ports, monitors use, may capture data en enroute and carries out deep packet inspection.

They run this across every ISP - mobile or fixed line to control access to anything "politically sensitive" and most likely to pursue anyone who is a threat to the state.

Never, ever assume you're not monitored when you're something like that, especially China!

You can't access most mainstream social media and email services from China and they're most definitely aware of VPN use if you're using it.

EoghanIRL

Thanks for all the suggestions.

However it seems that the USA have the best prices at the moment.
I know people state side who could post it over to me. Even after paying for tracked postage the saving is large.
E.g 6 including tax is working out at 530 euros.
6s working out at 630 including tax.
Plus I have bought my last iphone from states so am familiar with the whole process.
I think this is the best option I am going to find.

Tom Dunne

EoghanIRL wrote: »

Thanks for all the suggestions.

However it seems that the USA have the best prices at the moment.
I know people state side who could post it over to me. Even after paying for tracked postage the saving is large.
E.g 6 including tax is working out at 530 euros.
6s working out at 630 including tax.
Plus I have bought my last iphone from states so am familiar with the whole process.
I think this is the best option I am going to find.

Don't forget you will be charged import duty. And always remember the surprisingly high number of packages from the US that arrive as "gifts".

StonyIron

Just buy it in person and it's a good excuse for a trip anyway!

EoghanIRL

A conclusion to this thread for anyone interested.
The days of my iphone 4 are no longer.
Managed to pick up the 6 for 536 euros in the apple store in Hong Kong today.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm glad I waited out.

captain caveman

Hi Guys

Slightly O/T, but Mrs Caveman is planning to get a friend to pick her up a Macbook in Dubai. Is there anything to look out for on one of those? I know you're saying facetime wont work on phones etc.

Thanks!