Brazilian-made iPhone 4 units now on sale, still expensive

We’ve been talking about Foxconn’s new Brazilian factory for several months now. The plant is not only expected to help the manufacturer meet overwhelming demand for iPads and iPhones, but also make the devices cheaper for Latin American customers.

Due to outrageous import taxes, the two-year old iPhone 4 costs a staggering $1000 in Brazil. And the iPhone 4S is nearly $1500. Apple fans in the country are hoping that those prices will drop substantially, now that Foxconn is making them in Brazil…

That’s right, according to a report from MacRumors, Apple is now selling Brazilian-made 8GB iPhone 4s in its online store for the country. And actually has been for a while. But for some reason, the pricing on the handset has yet to come down.

MacRumors speculates that perhaps Apple and Foxconn have not yet met all of the requirements needed to receive certification from the Brazilian government that would make the devices exempt from the hefty import taxes. But we thought they got all of that cleared up last month.

Regardless, iPhone 4s with “Made in Brazil” are now in circulation. There’s no word on when we’ll see the same for iPad and iPhone 4S units, but we don’t expect them to be too far off. Here’s hoping that the same can be said for the price drops, because $1500 for an iPhone is just ridiculous.