The 2019 iPhone Index. Who Can Afford the New Apple Gadget?

This is an archived report. The latest ranking is available here.

The latest analysis by Picodi.com juxtaposes the price of iPhone 11 Pro and average salaries in several dozen countries around the world.

Apple’s pricing policy is causing more and more astonishment every year and is a beloved inspiration for internet memes. This is proof that sense of humour is not dependent on wealth: American jokes are also relevant in the Philippines.

After the September presentation of Apple’s new devices, the analytical team of Picodi.com decided to compare an average salary in selected countries with the price of an iPhone 11 Pro (the 64GB model) in order to count the number of workdays required to buy it.

The official price of iPhone 11 Pro (64GB) in the Philippines is ₱67,990. Assuming that, according to Numbeo (Philippine Statistics Authority has not updated data about average wages since 2018), the average salary in this country is ₱14,849, a statistical Filipino would have to work for 96.2 days to afford this year’s iPhone (not counting living expenses).

In the lead of the rank are Switzerland, the US and Luxembourg, where the ratio of the iPhone’s price to the average salary is the most attractive. A statistical Swiss should be able to save up for iPhone 11 Pro in 4.8 days, an American – in 5.8 days, and a Luxembourger – in 6.7 days.

The reverse record belongs to Ukraine: a statistical resident of this country would have to lay aside 96.7 days worth of wages to buy the iPhone. With 96.2 days, Filipinos were right behind the Ukrainians. Similar result was noted in Colombia and Turkey, were the new gadget has got the value of 89.7 and 89.1 workdays respectively.

Methodology and Data Source

The iPhone Index 2019 has been calculated on the basis of iPhone 11 Pro prices announced publicly on local Apple or authorised seller websites. The average salaries come from the countries’ official ministry or statistical office pages. In the absence of official up-to-date information, the average wage is based on Numbeo data for August 2019. We divided the monthly wages by 21 – the average number of workdays in a month.

Public Use

Do you want to share our charts and graphs? Feel free to use the data and infographics from the report for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage. If you have any questions, please contact us: research@picodi.com.