Tag: price

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Rogers ends several wireless promos, some plans increase by $5/mo

Toronto-based national telecom Rogers has ended several of its ongoing promotional offers, increasing the cost of some plans by $5/mo and offering less data with others.

First, Rogers’ base $85/mo plan lost its 15GB data bonus, going from 40GB to 25GB. It appears Rogers started offering the extra data in early March, but it’s not clear exactly when. This plan wasn’t marked as a limited-time offer like Rogers’ other plans.

Next up, Rogers’ increased the cost of its 45GB and 50GB plans by $5/mo. Rogers rolled out discounts for these plans on March 8th and both plans have sported limited-time labels since then. The plans now cost:

  • $95/mo for 45GB
  • $100/mo for 50GB, unlimited Canada-U.S. calling, texting, and data

Finally, Rogers still offers its $175/mo 100GB plan, although it appears unchanged.

Prior to the discounts rolled out in March, Rogers changed its $110/65GB plan to $100/50GB. In February, the company raised the prices of its plans across the board.

At the time of publication, Bell and Telus hadn’t changed their plan offerings. Both carriers offered $85/25GB and $100/50GB plans. Telus also has a $90/40GB plan, while Bell has a $95/45GB plan. You can check out Telus’ plans here and Bell’s plans here.

Rogers’ plans are available here.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Apple’s Mac Studio maxes out at $9,999 in Canada

Apple’s new Mac Studio will run you a cool $10,000 in Canada. Well, $9,999 to be exact, but at that point what’s another loonie?

Besides, that $9,999 price is just the maxed-out Mac Studio. Want a monitor? Keyboard? A mouse? Maybe some software to make use of all that power? Yup, you’ll need to open up that wallet again.

All right, let’s break it down and see what all that money gets you:

What you get for $9,999

To get up to that mammoth $9,999 figure, the first thing you need to do is opt for the M1 Ultra variant of the Mac Studio. That tacks an extra $1,250 on to the base $4,999 price.

Next, you’ll need to pick the 128GB memory option and max out your storage with the 8TB SSD (those will run you an extra $1,000 and $2,750 respectively).

That all gets you to the $9,999 price tag. Before we go any further, I want to point out that the eye-watering price tag is far from the highest Apple’s ever had. The Mac Pro maxed out at $73,396 in Canada. If the Mac Studio is as powerful as Apple claims, then that $9,999 price tag is a steal.

Extra costs on top of the $9,999

There are a few extras to keep in mind when pricing out your dream Mac Studio (and for the sake of this, we’re just going to roll with the Apple stuff, although you could probably save a ton by buying some non-Apple items).

First, if you want Apple’s Final Cut Pro or Logic Pro software, you’ll need to pay extra. You can get the software bundled with the Mac Studio — Final Cut Pro will run you an extra $399.99 while Logic Pro will be an extra $279.99. With both those on, you’re up to $10,678.98 total.

Next up we have displays. Sure, you could go for Apple’s new Studio Display, but for those of you seeking the ultimate in Apple spending, the obvious choice is the Pro Display XDR. Naturally, you’ll want the ‘nano-texture glass’ for the ultimate in viewing, which brings the price to $7,499. And you can’t forget the $1,299 Pro Stand, bringing the total to $8,798 for the monitor.

Apple’s website says the Mac Studio supports up to four Pro Display XDR monitors at the same time (plus one 4K TV, but we’ll leave that out of the equation since Apple doesn’t sell one). Four ProDisplay XDR monitors will run you $35,192, or $45,870.98 total with the Mac Studio included. Thankfully, the ProDisplay XDR includes an Apple Thunderbolt cable (otherwise they cost $159 a pop).

Speaking of accessories, you’ll need input devices to use the new Mac Studio. Assuming you’ll go all-in on Apple’s accessories, you’re looking at $229 for a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and a Numpad, $169 for the Magic Trackpad, and $119 for the Magic Mouse.

That brings us up to $46,387.98, which covers almost everything you need. All that’s left is Apple Care+ for your new Mac Studio and all of your Pro Display XDRs (at the time of writing, Apple’s website didn’t list the Apple Care cost for the Mac Studio, but coverage for the Pro Display XDR costs $649 per monitor).

So, there you have it. The ultimate Apple purchase. You will never financially recover from it, but it’s there if you want it.

Image credit: Apple

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Elon Musk tweets Tesla FSD price will increase to $12,000 but only in U.S.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is back on Twitter again, this time to announce that the company will raise the price of its ‘Full Self-Driving’ (FSD) software to $12,000 on January 17th.

Thankfully, the price hike will not impact Canadians — Musk followed up his original tweet noting the change was “Just in the US.” It’s somewhat surprising, given the similarity in the package’s pricing between the countries — U.S. customers currently pay $10,000 USD for FSD while Canadians pay $10,600 CAD ($10,000 USD is worth about $12,645 CAD).

Regardless, it’s good news for any prospective Tesla customers in Canada (and bad news for any U.S.-based Tesla customers). Still, Musk does have a tendency to change pricing on a whim. In October, Tesla hiked the price of its supposedly more affordable Model 3 by almost $3,400 over two weeks, bringing that car to just $10 shy of the federal EV rebate limit of $55,000 (once you factor out fees for delivery, air conditioning and other items).

Tesla also upped the price of its Model Y in October 2021 and in 2020, dropped the price of the Model S in Canada after Musk changed the price to $69,420 in the U.S. (The Model S price has changed since thanks in part to the release of the ‘Plaid‘ version.)

Musk followed up his FSD price increase tweet by noting that the FSD price would continue to rise as the company gets closer to the “production code release.” That likely means Canadians will see the FSD price increase in the future, even if the price isn’t changing at the moment.

It’s worth noting that the FSD software is still in beta despite Musk’s various promises over the years that it would be available by now (The Verge notes that Musk said FSD would exit beta in 2018 and in 2019 said it’d be on “over a million cars” in 2020).

We’re in 2022 now and over the last few months, the FSD beta has drawn increased scrutiny and criticism from regulators and reporters. Concerns stem from the decision to let regular people beta-test the FSD software — reasonable, considering people keep posting videos of them misusing the software. There are also concerns with how Tesla represents FSD, with some calling the full self-driving name misleading.

Source: Elon Musk (Twitter) Via: The Verge

Categories
Mobile Syrup

It costs up to $200 more to buy a Pixel 6/6 Pro from carriers than from Google

Google’s Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are fairly popular, but it remains rather difficult to get your hands on these new smartphones. Estimated delivery times range from late November to early January depending on the model and colour you pick, if the version you want is even in stock at Google’s online store.

While it may be tempting to buy the phone from a Canadian carrier instead, it’s worth keeping in mind almost every carrier charges more for an outright Google Pixel 6 or 6 Pro than it costs to get it from Google.

Now, it’s important to remember that the above pricing is for buying the Pixel 6/6 Pro outright from a carrier. In most cases, customers who choose to get one of these phones on a plan from a carrier will end up paying about the same for the phone after two years (with some exceptions I’ll get into below).

For example, Rogers charges $936 for the Pixel 6 outright, but if you sign up for a Rogers plan and finance the Pixel 6 through the carrier’s device financing program, you’ll pay $33.29/mo (over 24 months, that works out to $798.96).

Interestingly, Rogers also advertises the $33.29/mo financing cost as a “discount” from the regular $39/mo financing cost for the Pixel ($39/mo over 24 months is $936). Bell similarly claims on its website that the financing cost is cheaper, but is a little less secretive because it clearly states that it’s cheaper than “our device full price.” I didn’t see similar claims on Telus’ website. However, the Vancouver-based telecom also had a slightly higher financing cost for the Pixel 6 that worked out to $828 over two years.

Watch out for bring-it-back “deals”

Another thing worth considering is that Rogers, Bell and Telus all offer some variation of a ‘bring-it-back’ program where customers can choose to pay a reduced financing fee if they give back the phone at the end of their two-year term, or pay the difference. Using Rogers as the example again, the monthly cost becomes $28.29/mo or $678.96 total over two years. Although Rogers doesn’t list the bring-it-back price on its website, based on the difference in cost between the two options it seems like customers would need to pay $120 at the end of their contract to keep the phone if they wish.

Although the numbers will be slightly different with each carrier, the general idea is the same — you’ll pay roughly the same for the Pixel 6 or 6 Pro on contract as you would buying it directly from Google. If you try to buy the phone outright from most carriers, you’ll end up paying significantly more. While this rule generally holds true, it’s almost always worth running the numbers before buying any phone and comparing the total cost to an outright purchase direct from the manufacturer.

For example, we did a similar look at iPhone 13 pricing, which interestingly was around $30 to $45 more at a carrier compared to direct from Apple (depending on model and some other factors).

Finally, some carriers actually do offer slightly better pricing than Google if you sign up for a two-year term. Namely, Freedom Mobile, Shaw Mobile and Vidéotron. We have a full breakdown for subsidized pricing available here, but in short if you choose to get a Pixel 6 or 6 Pro from any of those carriers on a two-year plan you’ll end up paying less for the phone than buying it directly from Google (depending on the plan you pick, which is an important factor in the overall cost).

As always, make sure to factor in the costs of the phone you want to get, the mobile plan you want and any other costs when looking at buying a new device. Sometimes it’s worth paying a little extra for a phone if you can score a great plan (or forking out for an outright device to keep one).

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Tesla hikes Model 3 price in Canada again, now costs $56,380

Tesla has hiked Model 3 prices in Canada again.

The change was spotted by Ben Si in the Tesla Model 3 Canadian Group on Facebook (via Tesla North), which saw the entry Model 3 Standard Range Plus in Pearl White Multi-Coat with 18-inch Aero Wheels jump from $54,990 to $56,380 in Canada (an increase of $1,390). Further, delivery dates for the cheapest Model 3 now show September 2022.

Tesla North notes the price hike comes roughly two weeks after Tesla increased the Model 3 price from $52,990 to $54,990. All told, Tesla has increased the cost of the Model by $3,390 in roughly 14 days.

Further, when you take out the $1,280 delivery fee, $100 air conditioning fee and $10 OMVIC fee, the new Tesla Model 3 price sits just $10 below the federal EV rebate limit of $55,000.

Unfortunately, the Model 3 isn’t the only Tesla vehicle to see significant price increases in Canada over the last few months. Tesla also recently increased the cost of the Model Y by $4,000.

Source: Ben Si (Facebook) Via: Tesla North

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Bell, Virgin release Pixel 6 and 6 Pro pricing 10 days late

Bell and its flanker brand Virgin Plus have finally released Pixel 6 and 6 Pro pricing after basically skipping the pre-order period.

If you were expecting any crazy awesome pricing, well, I’ve got some bad news. Bell appears to be more or less in line with Rogers and Telus on the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro cost.

The Pixel 6 starts at $0 down with $28.30/mo financing ($679.20 over the 24-month term). On the surface, it sounds like a deal, but that pricing is based on Bell’s Device Return Option. In other words, at the end of the two-year contract, you’ll either need to give back the phone or pay $120 to keep in. All in, that means you’d get the phone for $799.20 from Bell through financing, which is the same as buying the phone outright from Google.

If you don’t do the Device Return Option, the monthly financing cost jumps to $33.30 (which works out to $799.20 over two years).

The story is very similar with the Pixel 6 Pro, which also costs $0 upfront and $39.12/mo financing ($938.88 after 24 months). Adding on the Device Return Option fee of $240 brings the grand total to $1,178.88, just a few cents shy of the $1,179 outright price for the Pixel 6 Pro. If you don’t do the Device Return Option, you’re looking at $49.12/mo financing ($1,178.88 total).

Keep in mind that this is all on top of at least an $80/mo plan.

At Virgin Mobile, the Pixel 6 costs $0 upfront and $33.30/mo financing ($799.20 over two years), but plans start at a lower $50/mo. In other words, while the phone costs the same, Virgin Plus customers can get a little relief on the monthly cost.

For the Pixel 6 Pro, Virgin charges $379 upfront plus $33.34/mo financing ($1,179.16 total).

Those interested can check out the Pixel 6 Pro pricing for all carriers offering the phones here.

Categories
Mobile Syrup

Pixel 6 and 6 Pro European pricing leak hints at flagship pricetag

Details about Google’s upcoming Pixel 6 and 6 Pro pricing have leaked, giving us an idea of just how much the smartphone may cost.

The info comes from YouTuber Brandon Lee (This is Tech Today), who cited a source working for a cellular retailer in Europe. According to the source, the Pixel 6 will cost around €649, while the Pixel 6 Pro may cost €899 (roughly $960.37 and $1,330.31 CAD respectively). Lee also recently shared a video clip of a prototype Pixel 6 Pro.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that converting the cost of a phone in one currency to another isn’t usually accurate to how much a device will actually cost in a country. In other words, Google may charge less (or more!) than $960 for the Pixel 6 in Canada.

As an example, the Pixel 5 costs $799 in Canada (although it’s currently not available on the Google Store). In Europe, the Pixel 5 costs €629, or about $930.78 CAD.

The bigger takeaway from this leak is that Google will likely price the Pixel 6 slightly higher than the Pixel 5, which is pretty great news considering the Pixel 6 is supposed to be a more flagship device.

As for the Pixel 6 Pro, it seems priced accordingly for a higher-end flagship, although it remains to be seen how the phone will stack up against other similarly priced handsets. Assuming the pricing information is accurate, and the 6 Pro retails for around $1,300 in Canada, that would put it in the same price range as Samsung’s Galaxy S21+ and the iPhone 13 Pro.

Of course, that assumes the pricing is correct. Given how leaks and rumours have panned out so far this year, I wouldn’t put a lot of confidence in this information — things could change before Google launches the phone.

Along with the pricing, Lee’s source also noted that the Pixel 6’s black and green colours were labelled ‘carbon’ and ‘fog’ in the retailer’s system. It’s not clear if those are the actual colour names Google has for the phone, but both names would fall in line with the search giant’s naming convention for its other products. However, the Pixel line, historically, has had cheeky names like ‘Clearly White’ and ‘Just Black.’ We may see the same with the Pixel 6 series — ‘Certainly Carbon’ and ‘Frankly Fog,’ anyone?

Source: Brandon Lee Via: 9to5Google