[wux]

In July 2014, the U.S. dollar was worth around 0.73 euros; today, it is worth about 0.86 euros. In January of last year, it was worth about 0.95 euros, and Apple obviously has an incentive to account for possible short-term exchange fluctuations.

2300 / 0.73 * 0.86 = ~2710

2300 / 0.73 * 0.95 = ~2993

It would appear that currency fluctuations account for a significant portion of that price difference that you're seeing.

[chx]

I have no idea what your calculations are trying to be, let me try it myself, it should be very simple:

In 2014, a 2300 EUR laptop was 2300 / 0.73 = ~3150 USD or so.

Today, a 3000 EUR laptop is 3000 / 0.86 = ~3500 USD or so.

So no, just the exchange ratio does not explain this. The US inflation numbers, however, say 3150 in 2014 was 3353 USD in 2018 so that's closer.

[wux]

2300 EUR in 2014 was ~3151 USD, as you say. At today's exchange rate, 3151 USD is approximately 2710 EUR. In January 2017, 3151 USD was approximately 2993 EUR.

Apple will give themselves a cushion to prevent undesirable pricing discrepancies (or the need for frequent price adjustments) if the U.S. dollar strengthens against the euro, so a product that they sell at 3150 USD after taxes in the United States would reasonably be in the ballpark of 2800-2900 EUR in Europe given exchange rates in the last year or two. This is rather close to the parent post's stated price even without adjusting for inflation.

[MagnumOpus]

> Apple will give themselves a cushion to prevent undesirable pricing discrepancies (or the need for frequent price adjustments) if the U.S. dollar strengthens against the euro

Apple is a trillion-dollar company that has people who can and do hedge FX exchange rates on their products to keep costs predictable in local currency terms. As such they don't need a "cushion" - beyond the need to cushion their margins, that is.

(And even if they didn't hedge FX - if they need a cushion now, why didn't they need the same cushion before?)