The price difference between buying Apple gear and mid-range alternatives is around R3,440, a MyBroadband analysis has shown.
Kitting yourself out with the highest-specced Apple gear will cost you roughly R20,000 more than buying ultra-high-end alternatives.
MyBroadband compared the price of going all-Apple to near-equivalents regarding specifications across two tiers — mid-range and ultra-high-end.
Each tier includes a laptop, smartphone, smartwatch, and wireless headphones or earbuds.
The mid-range gear totalled R45,896 on the Apple side, while the ultra-high-end tech came to R154,096.
On the other hand, the Windows-Intel (Wintel) and mostly Samsung alternatives in these categories totalled R42,156 and R134,497, respectively. The products are compared in more detail below.
Mid-range price comparison
South African residents looking for a mid-range setup can save money by opting for alternatives like the Asus TUF Gaming F17 laptop, Samsung Galaxy A55, Samsung Galaxy Watch6, and Samsung Galaxy Buds FE, over the corresponding Apple products.
Overall, the Apple basket was nearly R46,000, while the alternatives came to just over R42,000.
The comparison shows that the M1 MacBook Air currently offers excellent value for money.
iStore charges R20,999 for the 13-inch M1 MacBook Air, which has 16GB of unified memory and a 256GB SSD.
In comparison, the Asus Tuf Gaming F17 with an Intel Core i7-12700H, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB SSD is R21,159.
While the Wintel laptop was slightly more expensive than the 13-inch M1 MacBook Air, there were significant savings on the smartphone and earbud alternatives.
The only smartphone that could be considered mid-range sold by Apple is the iPhone SE 2022. The 128GB model sells for R13,999.
In comparison, South Africans can get the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G, which has a larger, higher refresh rate display and more storage for R11,499 from Samsung.
There is only a slight difference in price between the smartwatches we compared. Apple sells the 40mm Watch SE with cellular connectivity for R7,899.
On the other hand, Samsung sells the LTE-enabled 40mm Galaxy Watch6 for R7,999.
Regarding the earbud choices, Samsung’s Galaxy Buds FE are roughly half the price of Apple’s second-generation AirPods.
A price comparison between the two mid-range setups is summarised in the table below.
| Mid-range price comparison | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Apple product | Price | Alternative | Price |
| Laptop | MacBook Air 13-inch [M1 | 16GB RAM | 256GB SSD] | R20,999 | Asus TUF Gaming F17 [Intel Core i7-12700H | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 | 16GB DDR4 RAM | 512GB SSD] | R21,159 |
| Smartphone | iPhone SE 2022 128GB | R13,999 | Samsung Galaxy A55 5G 256GB | R11,499 |
| Smartwatch | Apple Watch SE [40mm; GPS + Cellular] | R7,899 | Samsung Galaxy Watch6 [40mm; Bluetooth + Cellular] | R7,999 |
| Headphones | Apple AirPods (2nd-Gen) | R2,999 | Samsung Galaxy Buds FE | R1,499 |
| Total | R45,896 | R42,156 | ||
Ultra-high-end price comparison
The differences are more stark in the ultra-high-end segment.
The all-Apple setup totals R154,096 — just under R20,000 more than the alternative setup. However, it is important to note that most of this price difference comes from the laptops.
A top-specced Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro costs R81,999. It packs an M3 Max chip, 36GB of unified memory, and a 1TB SSD.
In comparison, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7 we selected cost R59,999 from Evetech.
It packs an Intel Core i9-13900HX processor, Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU with 12GB of video memory, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
This works out to a price difference of R22,000 between the two laptops.
iStore sells the 512TB iPhone 15 Pro Max for R36,999 and the AirPods Max for R13,999.
In comparison, South Africans can grab the 512GB Galaxy S24 Ultra from Samsung for R34,999 and the Bose Quiet Comfort Headphones from Takealot for R12,500.
At R21,099, The Apple Watch Ultra 2 was also R900 more expensive than the 2nd-generation Garmin Epix Pro Edition we selected as an alternative.
A price comparison between the two setups is summarised in the table below.
| Ultra-high-end price comparison | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Apple product | Price | Alternative | Price |
| Laptop | MacBook Pro 16-inch [M3 Max | 36GB RAM | 1TB SSD] | R81,999 | Lenovo Legion Pro 7 [Intel Core i9-13900HX | RTX 4080 12GB | 32GB DDR5 RAM | 1TB SSD] | R59,999 |
| Smartphone | iPhone 15 Pro Max 512GB | R36,999 | Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 512GB | R34,999 |
| Smartwatch | Apple Watch Ultra 2 | R21,099 | Garmin Epix (Gen 2) Pro Edition 47mm | R21,999 |
| Headphones | AirPods Max | R13,999 | Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Wireless Over-Ear Headphones | R12,500 |
| Total | R154,096 | R134,497 | ||
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