Microsoft's changes come as part of a periodic assessment of its local pricing "to ensure there is reasonable alignment across the region." The fall in the value of the pound resulted in Apple hiking hardware prices in September, although the Redmond company says that consumer software like Office 365 and cloud services will not be impacted. However, because Microsoft doesn't set the pricing offered by resellers, partners could still decide to implement their own increases.

For customers with existing agreements, they'll likely be protected from Microsoft's price hikes until they renew their subscription. "Customers with Enterprise Agreements have price protection on previously ordered enterprise software and cloud services, and will not experience a price change during the term of their agreement," the company says. "Similarly, business customers with cloud commitment subscriptions such as Office 365 also receive price protection during their subscription term, which is normally twelve months from the start of paid subscription."