Takealot destroys Amazon and iStore in iPhone price showdown

Online shoppers in South Africa will likely find the best iPhones deals on Takealot.

MyBroadband compared the availability and pricing of Apple’s smartphones across five major online retailers — Amazon South Africa, Takealot, iStore, Incredible, and Woolworths.

Takealot offered the widest range of iPhone models — 35 out of a possible 38. Nine of the models it listed were not for sale through any of the other websites.

Takealot was also the most affordable for 16 out of 29 models that were available at multiple retailers.

Takealot’s selection and prices even trumped iStore, which is owned by the same company that is one of South Africa’s biggest iPhone distributors.

iStore had 29 models available, of which just four had the cheaper prices.

Twenty of its listings were the most expensive, either alone or tied with another retailer, which was often Incredible.

Amazon.co.za had prices similar or identical to Takealot. Seven of its model listings were the most affordable.

However, Amazon.co.za’s total range only consisted of 11 models, possibly due to the platform only having launched a month ago with a smaller assortment of resellers.

However, it still beat Woolworths on selection, with just nine models on offer from the clothing retailer’s WConnect division.

While its range left much to be desired, Woolworths performed fairly well in pricing, with two of the best prices and none of its products being the most expensive among the five retailers.

Secondhand devices are much cheaper

We excluded pre-owned models from this comparison, but plenty of secondhand devices are available for much cheaper than new ones.

These are often marked with “Good as New (GAN)”, “Pristine Like New”, or “Preloved” in their listing at significantly discounted prices.

The table below compares the prices of iPhones available on Amazon.co.za, Takealot, iStore, Incredible, and Woolworths.

Colours are used to indicate the following:

• Green — Cheapest price
• Red — Most expensive price
• Yellow — Between cheapest and most expensive prices
• Black — All prices matched
• Blue — Only available from one retailer