Guide to Buying an iPhone Duty Free in Australia

Thinking about buying a new smartphone, tablet or smart watch? If you’re travelling overseas soon, you could save by buying your iPhone duty free before you depart Australia.

JB Hi-Fi has duty-free stores in the international terminals of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth airports. When buying duty free, you can avoid paying the 10% Goods & Services Tax (GST). But is this a good deal?

Duty-free vs regular Apple iPhone & Watch pricing

Australian Frequent Flyer recently checked the cost of buying different types of new iPhones and Apple Watches from the JB Hi-Fi duty-free store at Sydney Airport. These prices exclude GST as this isn’t payable on purchases made after clearing customs and immigration when leaving the country.

We then compared these prices to the equivalent cost of buying through JB Hi-Fi or directly from Apple in Australia.

In general, JB Hi-Fi at the Heinemann Duty Free store in Sydney Airport’s international terminal had the lowest pricing. In fact, as some items were on sale until 1 July 2024, the savings on certain products were quite significant compared to buying from an Apple Store.

However, on many products, the discount for buying an iPhone duty-free in Australia was less than the 10% saving you would expect if you simply removed the GST from the regular JB Hi-FI price.

Here’s a full comparison of the different prices we found on selected Apple products in Australia, as of June 2024:

You can buy duty-free iPhones and other electronics from the JB Hi-Fi stores in the international departure terminals at Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane airports. There’s also now a JB Hi-Fi duty-free store at Brisbane international arrivals.

Claiming back GST through the Tourist Refund Scheme

As an alternative to buying a new iPhone right before you board your flight out of Australia, you could buy it up to 60 days before departing and then claim back the GST.

Using the Tourist Refund Scheme, you can buy your new phone (or anything else) from any Australian shop of your choice. You’d need to spend at least $300 and keep your receipt (which must have your name on it if the purchase is over $1,000). You’d also need to take the unused item/s with you out of Australia.

At the airport, you would need to present the goods and your receipt/s at the Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) office. You’ll then receive a refund of the GST directly to your credit card or bank account.

Read our Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) guide for more details about how this works.

Bringing items with you back into Australia

There is one catch. If you plan to bring your new iPhone with you back into Australia when you return from your trip, you might need to repay the GST. But this isn’t always the case.

When you make a TRS claim or an expensive duty-free purchase upon departure from Australia, Border Force may flag you for extra checks when you return. So, if you’re bringing tax-free goods back with you that are above the duty-free allowance, you should declare this.

The good news is that most people get a duty-free allowance of $900. This is reduced to $450 for children and airline crew members. You can pool this allowance between passengers. For example, if you’re travelling with one other adult, you get a combined allowance of $1,800.

If you used your new phone while you were overseas, it may have depreciated and be worth less when you return than what you paid before you left the country. Also, personal goods that you’ve owned for more than 12 months at the time of entering Australia are not subject to taxes.

Some advantages of buying directly from Apple

Of course, you won’t be able to buy your new iPhone or watch directly from Apple if you buy it at the airport. You may prefer to make your purchase directly from Apple if you want to trade in an old device or take advantage of complimentary services such as engraving. You can still claim a TRS refund if you make your purchase less than 60 days before leaving Australia.

Another clever strategy to save a bit more money when shopping with Apple is to purchase discounted gift vouchers. For example, NRMA customers can get a 4% discount on Apple gift cards.

You could also collect lots of bonus points by buying Apple gift cards from Woolworths or Coles when the supermarkets offer large amounts of bonus points. Then, simply redeem your gift cards towards your purchase at any Apple Store.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 80 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.