Pre-order price for Blackmagic PYXIS 12K now down to $5495

The pre-order price for the Blackmagic PYXIS 12K is now down to $5495, still higher than the $4995 it was launched at as long ago as Friday, but cheaper than the $6595 it was yesterday.

We said this was a fast moving story and so it is. In the space of a little over 24 hours, the price of the forthcoming Blackmagic PYXIS 12K has jumped by $1600 and then fallen by $1100. Anyone who followed the outrageous up and down swings of the Dow Jones yesterday will sympathise.

What gives? It looks like Blackmagic has basically moved production. Yesterday we pointed out that while the PYXIS cameras, both 12K and 6K, were up by 32%, the company's URSA line was only up by 10%. We speculated this was because of different manufacturing workflows, and Blackmagic confirmed this to us. One product line, the URSA, is manufactured at the company's factory in Singapore, the PYXIS was destined for its factory in Indonesia. Singapore has been pegged at the global flat rate US tariff of 10%, Indonesia has a special markup that takes it to 32%.

That geographic flexibility has allowed it to presumably move manufacturing from Indonesia, either to Singapore or somewhere else that has the 10% flat rate. But while that sounds simple on paper, you can only imagine the logistical nightmare to do all that at short notice that is creating behind the scenes. 

The PYXIS 6K is also 'down' to only a 10% increase at $3295, suggesting either the company is making new ones or it's just going to swallow the difference on the existing inventory so that it doesn't kill sales.

Again, this is not to pick on Blackmagic. Pretty much every company exhibiting at NAB will be making the same frantic moves behind the scenes, it's just that Blackmagic is doing them a bit more publicly and in realtime. Prices of everything from everyone are going to become inevitably more volatile while the situation continues. And don't forget, we're still a day out from these extra tariffs even being imposed.

Incoming! Pic: dreamstime.com

Oh, and one more thing worth thinking about when it comes to this subject that is not focused on Blackmagic they will be glad to hear. The major US-based resellers will already have containers and containers of pre-ordered and pre-paid goods en route to the US. When all that lands at US ports it's suddenly going to be hit with whatever point of origin tariff that country's goods are facing that day, up to 54% in the (current as of 06.00 UTC on April 8, but possibly 104% soon) planned case of China. How on earth they deal with all that and all the consumers involved is going to be rather interesting to watch.

[Update: Actually this might not be the case. It appears that the incoming tariff rate is based on when goods were loaded onto a vessel, meaning those shipments may be under the old values. Sorry for the error; as many people are finding out, this really is all rather complex. Ed]