Is it cheaper to buy from Apple or Samsung directly, or from JB Hi-Fi?
We compared every product Apple, Samsung, HP, Dell, DJI, Sonos, Bose and Garmin sell in their own Australian stores against the same product at retailers. Here's how often buying direct wins.
In this guide
Buying straight from the brand feels safe: it's their product, their warranty, their store. But is it cheaper? Brand stores in Australia mostly sell at the recommended retail price, while retailers discount. So we counted how often each brand's own store has the lowest price on products retailers also sell.
Brand stores vs retailers
| Store | Prices compared | Cheapest (or equal cheapest) | Typical gap when not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garmin | 8 | 75% | +18% |
| HP Store | 40 | 40% | +20% |
| DJI Store | 17 | 35% | +0.2% |
| Apple Store | 120 | 27% | +3% |
| Sonos | 17 | 18% | +1% |
| Samsung Store | 78 | 12% | +17% |
| Bose | 18 | 6% | +0.5% |
Every product variant at least two of these stores had in stock today, at its outright price. Recalculated every morning.
"Prices compared" is the number of products (by storage or size) that the brand's store and at least one Australian retailer both had in stock today. The bar is how often the brand store was cheapest, including ties, and the last column is how much more it typically charged when it wasn't.
When we wrote this (October 2026), Apple's and Samsung's own stores were rarely the cheapest place to buy their own products, and when they weren't, the gap was often a few per cent on Apple and more on Samsung. HP's store was a different story: it was the cheapest place for many HP laptops. Brands like DJI and Sonos tend to sit at the same price as retailers.
Apple: same price, or a little more
Apple sets one price in its store and rarely discounts. Australian retailers are free to sell below it, and on iPhones, iPads, MacBooks and AirPods they often do, especially on older models. Our guide to the cheapest iPhone in Australia shows today's gaps.
Reasons to buy from Apple anyway: build-to-order Macs (more memory or storage than retailers stock), engraving, the education store, trade-in, and launch-day stock.
Samsung: watch for its own promotions
Samsung's online store frequently runs its own bundles, trade-in bonuses and member discounts, which our prices don't include. Without them, Samsung's store prices on phones, tablets and TVs were usually higher than the cheapest retailer's. With a strong trade-in, the maths can flip.
HP, Dell and Lenovo: worth checking
The PC makers' own stores run frequent sales and sell configurations retailers don't. In our data HP's store was competitive on HP laptops. Always compare the exact configuration: a retailer's model and the maker's "similar" model can differ in memory or screen.
When buying direct makes sense
- You want a configuration, colour or bundle retailers don't stock.
- The brand is running a trade-in or cashback offer worth more than the retailer discount.
- You want launch-day stock of a new product.
Otherwise, check the retailers first. Every product page here lists the brand store's price beside every retailer's, so you can see the gap in one place.
