I am a language student in Tokyo and I have only been in Japan for a week.
I am planning to buy a Macbook Pro M1 or M2 and an Iphone 15 Plus I also need to get a SIM card and I am planning to go with ahomo.
What is the most money-saving way to do this?
I observed that Rakuten has better prices overall compared to Amazon.
Are companies like ahomo or softbank offer discounts when you buy the phone from them along with the SIM card and data plan?
Can I get a student discount at an Apple Store?
Is there a website that I can track discounts and find the best deal on a spesific website?
I asked a lot of questions but you probably get the main idea. I don’t know anyone in Japan and I just came here. Even if I tried to search these questions, I could hardly find what I was looking for. So, I would like to thank everyone in advance who will understand, help and respond.
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(I just learned that I cannot benefit from tax-free shopping as an international student (Sorry I didn’t know that and I had to recreate the post)
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5 comments
you can use the student discount and as far as i know they dont even ask for anything (although they may check it on a case by case basis).
the cheapest and most reliable will always be the official apple store for macbooks (phones no idea). if you are okay with japanese keyboard check their refurbished ones
For MacBooks, refurbished ones from the Apple Store are pretty legit, but stocks come and go, so you have to check often to see if the MacBook you want is available. Downside is, you cannot change the keyboard layout, it will be a Japanese keyboard.
If you can wait, Apple also offers a 16-24,000Y gift card for students between February-April. This gift card can be used alongside the student discount.
The cheapest way to get an iPhone 15 in Japan right now is through the Apple Store. Mobile carriers usually sell them more much more.
ahamo is good as a mobile plan.
For a website for finding deals, try [kakaku.com](https://kakaku.com). I usually search for products on google shopping too so I can cast a wider net when purchasing stuff.
But really in terms of apple products for proper apple care, best to get from apple directly. Not sure about the student discount as I’ve never tried it myself, but shouldn’t be an issue. Also when you order directly from apple even here in Japan, you can usually request for an english keyboard version. They usually have a few in stock in the back (but not for all models), and also you can get it from their online store too.
You can usually get away with tax free if you know someone visiting and they use their passport to help you purchase, but not sure how that would affect the potential student discount too.
I would recommend buying phones from apple store rather than softbank or au. For sim, ahamo have good rates.
For macbook, yes, there will be student discounts.
They may or maynot ask for student id for verification but since you are student now there wont be any problem.
Also if you dont want to pay in full price use paidy where you can split 32 or 48 times with 0% interest for both iphone and macbook. But paidy needs to be verified can be done inapp which requires mynumber.
As long as you have anything to prove you are a student (or teacher), you can get the discount in the apple store. It doesn’t matter the language or country of your student’s ID. It must be a “stand alone” apple store, those apple corners inside the big appliance stores don’t give student’s discounts.
Twice I bought something with the teacher’s discount (same as student’s discount) and both times they asked for proof.
For the phone, getting it from the carrier is always cheaper. You usually must stay with that carrier for a while or you get blacklisted for new contracts. Right before a new model is released you can easily find the less popular iPhone models for a quarter of the original price.