Brexit to cost UK tech consumers more as pound falls

Yes we voted to leave. Since the referendum result our Great British pound has fallen by 12% against the US dollar, more than anyone expected and is now at a 31 year low.

Guess what? The super smart team at Citigroup predict that this will hurt sales of Apple, Dell and other US tech firms that price in $.

Citigroup Global Markets analyst Jim Suva has predicted that economic uncertainty in the UK following the referendum decision to leave the EU will hurt Apple sales. Business Insider reports that Citigroup has lowered its estimates for iPhone sales across two quarters.
<blockquote>We are lowering our estimates for June and September quarters given potential for lower demand from macro uncertainty (Brexit related), currency volatility and lengthening replacement cycles.</blockquote>
The reduction isn’t a major one – just 700k down on the previous estimate – but does give some indication that the economic consequences of Brexit will extend beyond the UK.

As an indication of how other tech companies are responding, Dell has confirmed that it has raised its wholesale prices by 10% in the UK in response to a 12.4% reduction in the value of the pound against the dollar, and it’s been suggested that HP is likely to follow suit.

A spokeswoman at HP Inc said:
<blockquote>HP is carefully assessing the Brexit situation to better understand its business and economic impact. In the meantime, we continue to actively move forward with day-to-day operations supporting employees, customers and partners.</blockquote>
Apple currently appears to be adopting a wait-and-see approach, it seems likely that it too will raise its UK prices at some point.