It will cost around 2.8 months of your salary to buy a high-end smartphone, two months for a mid-ranged one, and 0.7 months for an entry-level one, and that’s according to iPrice…
It’s no secret that the Philippines are one of most tech-oriented countries in the world right now, but according to a July report of iPrice Insights Team (an e-commerce aggregator), it showed that Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines are some of the countries in the world where smartphones are the ‘least affordable if you happen to live in one of these places.
The report compared the base pricing of four smartphone brands (OPPO, Samsung, Apple and vivo) on their entry-level, mid-range, and high-end devices with the common monthly salaries of specific Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and our country.
The team discovered that a single high-end/mid-range smartphone would cost a common Filipino three months of work if they want a high-end one, and two months if they’re planning to buy a mid-range phone. According to them, “high-end models are simply not in the equation for many people, taking them around three to six months of their salary just to buy one.”
Even lower-end options can be tough to acquire, even though that range of smartphones are considered the cheapest, it is considered still “an expensive investment” for PH, Indonesia, and Vietnam households, costing around a whopping 70% of average monthly wage in said countries.
iPrice however, noted out that the study on affordability of smartphones that they have created isn’t just derived from income only, but also the different prices of each smartphone units in mentioned Southeast Asian countries.
What’s your opinion about this? Is it true that a smartphone here costs an arm and a leg? This has been Unbox Diaries, selling my left kidney for an iPhone 13 Pro Max.
