At £699.99, the PS5 Pro is going to be an expensive investment. The so-called superpowered PlayStation console aims to deliver enhanced frame rates, upgraded ray tracing and improved visuals through its larger GPU and AI-driven upscaling. While Sony hasn’t sold many gamers on the hardware yet, mainly due to the lack of actual hands-on comparisons, I wanted to predict what you’ll pay locally for the console in case you feel like you need it.
We need to keep in mind that the PS5 Pro comes with extra costs. First off, there is no disc drive included in the box. At £699.99 GBP, Sony hasn’t included the accessory which allows you to play all the disc-based games you have racked up over the past few years. Of course, if you have a Digital Edition or perhaps you’re buying a PS5 for the first time, this doesn’t matter.
You’ll then want to buy a verticle stand…. Or not. Up to you but the elongated PS5 Pro console does look cooler standing up, in my opinion. Don’t forget the extra DualSense Controller which, by the way, recently got a price hike too.
So what will you pay in South Africa for the PS5 Pro? We are still waiting for the local pricing and release date for the console but we can kind of figure this out ourselves.
In South Africa, we get our gaming products from the UK. This means you need to convert the price in Pounds. Shipping and Duties are added to this total. You then need to add distribution margin and reseller margins. Lastly, you add 15% VAT.
Calculating duties is the tough one because this rate depends on the tech. Shipping costs also change across air and sea. We usually get PlayStation hardware by sea because it is cheaper. However, it also often results in delays.
So PS5 Pro – £699.99 (R16,354 @ R23,36 on 11 September) + 10% duties = R17,989 + R500 shipping = R18,489 + R1,000 margins = R19,489 + 15% VAT = R22,412.
Of course, this isn’t set in stone. Shipping will likely cost less but not by much. Margins are also versatile depending on how much money the distributor wants to make and give to retailers as profit. You also can’t directly convert the Pound to Rand without taking into account other fees involved in international purchases.
Another quick way to convert this would also be to simply calculate the current PS5 console price to the current Pound and take that exchange and times it by the PS5 Pro asking price. So PS5 Disc Edition cost R13,999 / £479.99 = R29.16. R29.16 x £699,99 = R20,411.
This R20,411 is definitely better than the other calculation but it is based on a product that costs £220 less than the PS5 Pro. So VAT, import duties and shipping have been calculated for £479 and not £699. The PS5 Pro likely weighs more so it costs more to ship.
I would say the PS5 Pro could be listed in South Africa at anywhere between R21,000 and R22,499. Add a disc drive at R2,999 and the console could reach up to R25,499. R699 for the stand, R1699 for a DualSense and Sony is laughing all the way to the bank at R27,899.
Keep in mind that this is just a prediction at this point. But I wanted to share how this might be calculated to avoid the whole “BUT THE DOLLAR IS WEAK AGAINST THE RAND NOW” debate I see online. Don’t even look at the Dollar unless you plan on importing the console yourself from the US. Even then, the PS5 Pro is still an expensive investment.
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