Apple’s French store lists the 6.3-inch iPhone 18 Pro with 256GB at €1,479. The German store lists the same phone at €1,449, and that €30 difference repeats at 512GB, 1TB and 2TB, on both the Pro and the Pro Max.
Two euro markets, one currency, the same launch day and the same 14:00 pre-order time, with a gap that never closes. Apple publishes no explanation on either page. On iPhone Duo the gap widens to €40 at every tier, and on Apple Watch it vanishes entirely.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro 256GB | €1,449 Germany, €1,479 France |
| Gap on both iPhone 18 Pro sizes | €30 at all four storage tiers |
| Gap on iPhone Duo | €40 at all four tiers |
| Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 | €449 and €899 in both markets |
| Pre-order | 14:00 in both, 12 September, which is 12:00 UTC |
| On sale | Friday, September 18 |
| Apple’s explanation | None published |
The gap runs through every tier and both sizes
The German figures appear both on Apple’s German store page and in its German press release, which gives the starting prices as 1.449 Euro and 1.599 Euro including VAT. The French figures come from Apple’s French store page.
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| Storage | 18 Pro Germany | 18 Pro France | Pro Max Germany | Pro Max France |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 256GB | €1,449 | €1,479 | €1,599 | €1,629 |
| 512GB | €1,699 | €1,729 | €1,849 | €1,879 |
| 1TB | €2,199 | €2,229 | €2,349 | €2,379 |
| 2TB | €2,949 | €2,979 | €3,099 | €3,129 |
Because the difference is flat rather than proportional, it shrinks as a percentage the higher you configure. It is about 2 percent of a 256GB iPhone 18 Pro and about 1 percent of the 2TB Pro Max.
iPhone Duo is 40 euros apart, the Watch is not apart at all
- iPhone Duo: €2,299, €2,549, €3,049 and €3,799 in Germany against €2,339, €2,589, €3,089 and €3,839 in France.
- Apple Watch Series 12: €449 in both. Apple Watch Ultra 4: €899 in both.
- AirPods 5: no published euro price in either market.
- Cases: Apple’s German release prices the woven case at €69 and the clear and silicone cases at €59 each. No French case price is published.
So the pattern is specific to iPhone rather than to the market. Anything that reads as a country-level surcharge has to explain why an Apple Watch crosses the border at the same price.
Same clock, two names, two finance partners
Apple’s German page says pre-orders open at 14:00 MESZ and the French page says 14 h CEST. Those are the same instant, 12:00 UTC, and the same instant as 5:00 a.m. PT in California. Apple’s German press release quotes Pacific Time instead, as 5:00 Uhr PDT.
Payment is where the two storefronts genuinely differ. Germany shows Openbank Pay over 3 to 36 months with no per-model figure. France shows a Cetelem example over 36 months on a €1,500 purchase, running from €41.67 a month at 0 percent to €51.27 at 14.01 percent. Neither is a per-tier monthly price for the phone itself in the way the UK figures are.
What a euro buyer can do about it
Very little that Apple documents. Apple publishes no cross-border purchase route, no price matching between storefronts and no explanation of the difference, and both markets keep the physical SIM tray, so neither has the eSIM-only restriction that applies in Canada, Japan, the UAE and the US.
VAT refunds are not a shortcut either. EU refunds exist only for goods leaving the EU with the traveller, and each country sets its own minimum, with France at €100.01 per store per day. A buyer living in France cannot reclaim French VAT, and a resident of one euro country buying in another still pays the local tax-inclusive price on the page.
What has not been confirmed
Apple has published no reason for the €30 and €40 gaps, no French case prices, no AirPods 5 price in either market, and no per-model finance figure for either. It has also published no per-configuration Apple Watch prices in France or Germany, and no availability date on either store page, which leaves the September 18 date resting on the press release.
Pre-orders open at 14:00 in both countries today, Saturday, September 12. iPhone 18 Pro reaches French and German stores on Friday, September 18, and iPhone Duo follows on Friday, October 23.
