Apple prices rocket because of Brexit-inspired pound sterling slump

The change means that dollars are now worth the same as pounds in the app store

A picture taken on July 14, 2016 shows an avatar on the screen of a mobile phone as a player uses the Pokemon Go application on their mobile phone as they wait with members of the media opposite the door of 10 Downing Street in central London, as cabinet appointments by new prime minister Theresa May are made on her first full day in office (OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Apple is pushing up the price of apps by 25 per cent to make up for the plunging value of the pound.

The prices are now the same as they are in dollars. Apps that were once £0.79 – the cheapest that developers can offer apps for – will now cost £0.99, for instance.

The change is thought to be a response to the pound's loss of value since Brexit. The June referendum and the policy statements that followed have pushed the pound to historic lows and seem to have forced Apple to adjust, since it does its accounting in US dollars.

The price rises will affect the App Store on both iOS and the Mac App Store.

The changes aren't thought to be on their way to iTunes, where songs will remain at £0.79 each. And the adjustment has already been made to Apple's hardware, a move that pushed up the cost of an iPhone by more than £100.

Apple didn't explicitly blame Brexit or the crash in the pound that has followed it for the change in prices. But it has revised the prices of its hardware products already, and named a range of factors that have fluctuated in the wake of June's referendum and the policy statements that followed.

"Price tiers on the App Store are set internationally on the basis of several factors, including currency exchange rates, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business," it said.

"These factors vary from region to region and over time."

In India and Turkey, prices are rising even more.

The cost of a $0.99 app will become 80 rupees in India, an increase of 33 per cent. In Turkey the same price will change from 2.69 lira to 3.49 lira, up 30 per cent.

Developers are being notified of the change now, according to 9to5mac, which first reported the news. The change is expected to take place in the next seven days.