Apple’s new iPad mini costs $699 USD in the U.S. and $949 in Canada. That’s $250 more, and it looks like the familiar story: Canadians pay more for the same thing.
At Monday’s exchange rate, though, $699 USD works out to about $980 CAD. The Canadian price is about $31 lower than a straight conversion.
So is there a “Canada tax” on gadgets or not? We compared the official prices of nine popular devices in both countries, converted at the Bank of Canada’s rate, to find out. The short answer: mostly not, but there are real exceptions, and they’re in the most expensive products.
How we compared
We took each device’s regular starting price from the manufacturer’s own Canadian and U.S. online stores on Oct. 27, before tax and without trade-in, carrier or sale discounts. We converted the U.S. price at the Bank of Canada’s daily rate for Oct. 26: 1.4025 CAD per USD. Where storage differs between models, we compared the same configuration.
Two things to keep in mind. Neither country’s sticker prices include sales tax. And the U.S. iPhone 17’s advertised price includes a $30 discount for activating it with a carrier, so we used its unlocked price instead, as Apple’s store lists it.
The numbers
| Device | U.S. price | In CAD | Canadian price | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone Duo (256GB) | $1,999 | $2,804 | $2,999 | +$195 (+7.0%) |
| Galaxy S26 Ultra (256GB) | $1,399.99 | $1,963 | $2,049.99 | +$87 (+4.4%) |
| iPhone 18 Pro (256GB) | $1,199 | $1,682 | $1,749 | +$67 (+4.0%) |
| iPhone 17 (256GB) | $929 | $1,303 | $1,299 | −$4 (−0.3%) |
| MacBook Air 13-inch (M5) | $1,299 | $1,822 | $1,799 | −$23 (−1.3%) |
| Pixel 11 Pro | $1,099 | $1,541 | $1,499 | −$42 (−2.7%) |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | $499.99 | $701 | $679.99 | −$21 (−3.0%) |
| iPad mini (128GB Wi-Fi) | $699 | $980 | $949 | −$31 (−3.2%) |
| AirPods Pro 3 | $249 | $349 | $329 | −$20 (−5.8%) |
Sources: Apple Canada and Apple U.S. stores; Samsung Canada and Samsung U.S.; the Google Store Canada and U.S.; Nintendo Canada and Nintendo U.S.. Gaps rounded to the dollar.
Six of the nine are priced at or slightly below a straight conversion. The three that cost more are the three most expensive phones.
Where the markup is real
The iPhone Duo has the biggest gap, and it grows with storage because Apple marks up every tier by about 7%:
| iPhone Duo storage | U.S. price in CAD | Canadian price | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 256GB | $2,804 | $2,999 | +$195 |
| 512GB | $3,084 | $3,299 | +$215 |
| 1TB | $3,645 | $3,899 | +$254 |
| 2TB | $4,487 | $4,799 | +$312 |
At the top of the range, a Canadian buyer pays about $312 more than the U.S. price converted, before tax. That’s on a phone that’s already had a rough first week.
The iPhone 18 Pro carries a smaller premium of about 4%, or $67 on the base model. Meanwhile the iPhone 17, Apple’s mainstream phone, is priced almost exactly at the exchange rate. Within one product line, Apple has set the Canadian premium differently by model.
Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra is about 4% higher here at regular price. The gap is wider on the day we checked: Samsung’s U.S. store had the 256GB model on sale for $1,149.99 USD, about $1,613 CAD, while the Canadian store showed the full $2,049.99. Sales come and go in both countries, so we compared regular prices. But it’s a reminder that a U.S. promotion often doesn’t arrive here at the same time.
Where Canada comes out ahead
The items priced below a straight conversion share one pattern: their U.S. prices have been rising.
The iPad mini is the clearest example. In the U.S., the previous model started at $499 USD until Apple raised it to $599 earlier this year, amid what MacRumors describes as memory and chip shortages, and the new model starts at $699, MacRumors reports. That’s a 40% increase in 2026 alone.
Canada’s iPad mini price went up too: the 2024 model launched at $679 and was later raised to $849, iPhone in Canada reports, and the new one is $949. That’s about a 40% rise from launch as well. But because the Canadian price started higher, it hasn’t overtaken the converted U.S. price.
Our analysis: Companies set Canadian prices in advance and change them occasionally, while the exchange rate moves every day. In the week to Oct. 26, the Bank of Canada’s rate ranged from 1.3993 to 1.4057. A gap of 1% or 2% in either direction is mostly noise. A consistent 4% to 7% on specific models is a choice.
There are also costs that apply only here. Google’s Canadian store, for example, notes that Quebec buyers get a three-year warranty of good working order, and Nintendo’s Canadian store carries its own Quebec notice. We can’t tell from the outside how much such costs add, and none of these stores explains how its Canadian prices are set.
What sales tax adds
Sticker prices in both countries exclude tax. In Canada, the tax you pay depends heavily on your province. Here’s what the $949 iPad mini and the $2,999 iPhone Duo cost once tax is added, using the Canada Revenue Agency’s GST/HST and PST rates:
| Province | Sales tax | iPad mini | iPhone Duo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta, territories | 5% | $996 | $3,149 |
| Saskatchewan | 11% | $1,053 | $3,329 |
| B.C., Manitoba | 12% | $1,063 | $3,359 |
| Ontario | 13% | $1,072 | $3,389 |
| Nova Scotia | 14% | $1,082 | $3,419 |
| Quebec | 14.975% | $1,091 | $3,448 |
| N.B., N.L., P.E.I. | 15% | $1,091 | $3,449 |
That spread, from 5% in Alberta to 15% in Atlantic Canada, is worth up to about $300 on an iPhone Duo. It’s larger than most of the “Canada tax” gaps in our main table.
How to check a price yourself
You don’t need a spreadsheet to run this test on anything you’re about to buy:
- Find both official prices. Use the manufacturer’s own Canadian and U.S. stores, and compare the same storage and model. Ignore trade-in and carrier prices; they’re built differently in each country.
- Convert at today’s rate. The Bank of Canada publishes a daily rate. Multiply the U.S. price by it.
- Compare before tax. Both stores show prices before sales tax, so compare those first, then add your province’s rate to the Canadian price.
- Allow a few per cent either way. Exchange rates move daily and prices don’t, so a gap of 1% or 2% doesn’t tell you much. A gap of 5% or more on the same configuration is a real markup.
What to watch
- Wednesday’s Apple event. Apple’s “Pro and Tell” event on Oct. 28 is expected to bring new MacBook Pros. We’ll post Canadian prices live and check them against the U.S. prices the same way.
- Black Friday. U.S. and Canadian sales often don’t line up, as the Galaxy S26 Ultra shows. If you’re shopping for a phone in November, compare the Canadian sale price, not just the regular price.
- The loonie. Canadian prices are fixed in dollars, but the U.S. comparison moves with the exchange rate. If the dollar strengthens, more of these Canadian prices will start to look high.
- Further U.S. increases. Apple has raised U.S. prices on the iPad mini twice this year. If U.S. prices keep rising faster than Canadian ones, more Canadian prices will look like bargains on paper.
Why it matters: The “Canada tax” isn’t universal. On the iPad mini, AirPods, Pixel, Switch 2 and MacBook Air, Canadians are paying roughly what the exchange rate says, or a little less. The markups show up on premium phones, where 4% to 7% on a $1,700 to $4,800 device adds up to real money. Before you buy, convert the U.S. price at the current rate and add your province’s tax. That tells you whether you’re paying for the currency, the tax, or something else.