I’m having a serious case of I-need-it whenever I am walking by the Huawei store here in Muscat, Oman.
It is a simply fabulous looking device and I think I do need it.
I’m trying to justify it, though. I need your help.
It’s 999 Omani Rials here in Oman. That translates – today – into GBP 1,963.
If I look at the Rials price… it feels cheap. But. Then I do the conversion to British pounds and goodness me, arrrrrggggh.
When it comes to perhaps GBP 1,200 for the likes of the latest iPhone or the latest Huawei/Samsung, I don’t blink too much. I am happy to do the return-on-investment conversation (e.g. I am using the device for hours per day, yes it’s expensive, but I will get real value from it and so on).
But when the cost is shifting into 1,500 or almost 2,000 pounds – that’s when I feel a need to pause.
Because I tend to buy a lot of technology, I have developed a particular pattern of consumption and most of it tends to involve very.co.uk, although it’s difficult when I’m not in the UK. Very offers a highly useful ability to ‘take 3’ (i.e. pay for a device over three months, interest free) or you can opt to buy the device but pay across 12-months. (But don’t forget to pay it off fully or the interest can be biting.)
I popped over to Very to check out their offering and I was delighted to see the Huawei Mate XS featured… but at GBP 2,299 – of course, that’s including the tax payable in the UK. Hmmm.
Now the obligatory comparison with an Apple MacBook Pro…
And here we go. In the UK, the top-of-the-range MacBook Pro 13″ is cheaper.
Or, also from very.co.uk, for the same price as the fabulous Huawei Mate XS handset, I could pick up two of these rather swish looking Huawei Matebook laptops:
Decisions, decisions.
You see, the Matebook won’t give me the same utility as the Mate XS handset. It’s not fair – I know – to do such a comparison because we’re looking at different categories of device. Just… how do I justify the cost? 😉
Maybe the answer is to wait for a little while until the retail price inevitably reduces?
At the same time, I like to vote-with-my-wallet to encourage and support this type of innovation. We need more of this in the mobile marketplace!
As I’m writing, I’m also remembering that I really enjoy experiencing new innovations and devices.
Soooo… I will continue to have a think.
