The iPhone X had a price tag of $999 on launch day in November 2017 making it the most expensive version of the device ever manufactured. Most of the time it was even more expensive outside the U.S. due to sales and import taxes. Even though many feared the phone could flop due to that high price tag, Apple reported better than expected results for its second fiscal quarter in early May. The company is still firmly on course to surpass the trillion-dollar mark in market capitalization.
Even though the phone is proving a financial success for Apple, it is still prohibitively expensive for people on an average wage across much of the globe. Swiss Bank UBS conducted an analysis of the device’s price for someone on an average wage in 15 different professions in major cities. It found that in Zurich for example, which is incredibly affluent, somebody would have to work almost 5 days straight to get their hands on the iPhone X. For an average New Yorker, 6.7 days would be required.
If that sounds like a lot, spare a thought for people in Africa dreaming of buying Apple’s flagship smartphone. Lagos, Nigeria, is one of the world’s fastest growing cities and the most populous conurbation on the African continent. Wages are still extremely low there and somebody hoping to buy an iPhone X on an average wage would have tot work for 133 days. The Kenyan capital of Nairobi is a little bit better off with an average earning needing 72 days of work to purchase the handset.
source: statista
