Friday March 29th, 2024
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Apple Expands Number of Authorised Sellers in Egypt from 3 to a Whopping 80

The move means that more options for customers and more competitive prices.

Staff Writer

Think of the jaw-drop every time you’re scrolling through Tradeline’s online store, and come across more digits than you ever thought you would for a smartphone. Well that might just change soon. Kinda.

Head of the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA), Amir Nabil has announced that global tech giant Apple has committed to amending their distribution channels in Egypt and the Arab region, and removing restrictions and exclusive deals that limited competition in the market. What this means is that that 80 distributors have become authorised to sell Apple products in Egypt, a whopping increase from only 3 sellers such as Tradeline and Switch Stores.

Nabil has added that “some final procedures are left to implement these amendments, and will officially be announced soon.” In December, the ECA censured the tech giant to end their 'anti-competitive practices' in the Egyptian market, even threatening to pursue legal action against the company.

In a statement released by the ECA, it stated that Apple, through its marketing policies and deals, has block parallel imports, therefore preventing authorised distributors in Egypt of importing from any other global distributors.

“This commitment by Apple allows for parallel import, so that all distributors can export to the Egyptian market, opening the market to a large number of potential exporters,” said Nabil. “Egyptian consumers should be allowed to purchase Apple products at competitive prices, especially since there aren’t custom duties on mobile phone imports in Egypt.”

The latest iPhone model, iPhone XS and XS Max, are sold through authorised providers between EGP 23,000 to EGP 34,000. Nabil stated that said amendments will allow for more competition, thus providing Egyptian consumers with fair prices that on par with other markets, as opposed to prices in Egypt being significantly more than countries such as regional markets in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait, and the US.