Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) does not fix its iPhone prices. The tech titan recently rejected accusations by Russia’s state competition watchdog, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS), that it is involved in iPhone price-fixing. Apple confirmed that resellers set its products’ prices and not the company itself.
The FAS confirmed in a press release that it was investigating allegations about price-fixing. According to the watchdog agency, it received a complaint from a member of the public in regards to “signs of price-setting coordination.” This coordination would have been done by Apple.
FAS has stated that it would be investigating into the concept that Apple obliged Russian resellers to treat its suggested product prices as mandatory. Officials say that the investigation has shown that retailers had actually established the same prices and continued to promote them at that price for an extended period of time.
“As the preliminary investigations showed, since the start of the sales of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the majority of resellers have fixed and maintained for a certain period of time the same prices for them,” the FAS said in a statement. “Besides, the anti-monopoly authority has identified similarities in the resellers’ prices for other Apple smartphones.”
It noted that a citizen had informed the group that the iPhone 6s and the iPhone6s Plus were priced the same at all 16 major Russian retailers. So far, five of those retailers have rejected those allegations.
Reuters reported that Apple had denied any claims of price-fixing. It confirmed that resellers, whether they’re in Russia or elsewhere around the world, are the ones that set the prices for its iPhones.
Should the FAS conclude that Apple did lead a charge of price-fixing, it would be fined between one million rubles ($15,400) and five million rubles ($77,000).
One of the richest companies in the world does have experience with price-fixing.
A U.S. federal appeals court determined in 2015 that Apple collaborated with publishers to price-fix ebooks. This caused many book titles to jump $9.99 to $14.99.
In June, Apple started to pay out more than $400 million to customers as part of the settlement it made with justice system. Shoppers will start to receive $6.93 for each New York Times bestseller and $1.57 for every other ebook. The firm will also pay pay $20 million to the states and $30 million in legal fees.
Apple also does have quite the history in the Russian Federation.
In November 2014, Apple raised the prices of its iPhones and iPads by between 20 and 25 percent. Apple did this because the 20 percent drop in the value of the rouble made its products cheaper in Russia than elsewhere in Europe. Therefore, many consumers were taking advantage of the collapse in rouble when they were buying Apple products online.
A month or two later, Apple had temporary ended the sale of its devices in the country. The tech firm blamed the move on the rouble’s volatile value. Russia has been going through a financial crisis because of the severe dip in oil prices and natural gas prices and sanctions from the West over its invasion of Crimea. Since then, Russia has been gradually recovering.
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