Apple will begin selling the iPhone in Argentina in April for the first time in years, reports Bloomberg, quoting an unnamed “person familiar with the matter.”
The smartphone has been unavailable from carriers Telefonica SA, America Movil SAB and Telecom Argentina SA because of rules put in place in 2009 by President Mauricio Macri’s predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who pressured device makers to assemble their products in Argentina. Apple never opened a factory there (though Samsung did).
All regulatory hurdles to import the iPhone have been removed, though the carriers will have to pay import taxes that will make the devices at least 25% more expensive than locally assembled phones, according to Bloomberg. However, despite those obstacles, “iPhones are already a common sight on the streets of Buenos Aires, making their way to the country in the suitcases of travelers to Miami or through small businesses that import the devices and sell them online,” the article adds.
