09/17/2025
The price people will be paying for the new iPhone 17 model varies widely as Apple’s pricing as well as taxes and duties vary across the globe. Calculating the working hours needed to pay for the popular device based on average wage data from the International Labor Organization, an even bigger chasm appears.
The iPhone 17 was unveiled by Apple on last week and will start shipping this Friday in several countries around the world. Upgrades to the new models include a more powerful front-facing camera, more features for the regular camera and better scratch resistance, while the company’s lack of AI leadership - for example in photo editing - continues to be criticized.
In the United States, a base iPhone 17 model with 256 GB of storage costs $799 plus sales tax. In California, for example, its final price would be around $857. The most expensive phone of the line with a bigger screen, longer battery life and better hardware, the iPhone Pro Max, has a price starting of around $1,286 in the U.S. including tax. This price is already much different in Europe, where the base model price stands at $1160 in Portugal and $1,200 in Hungary, for example. The phone is slightly cheaper in Germany at around $1,110 and the United Kingdom at just $1,080. Some of the highest iPhone prices can be observed in Brazil at more than $1,480 just for the base model or Turkey, where the same phone sells for a converted $1,880.
In addition to high import duties levied by both Brazil and Turkey, extra costs are incurred by logistics security in the case of Brazil and luxury taxes applied in the case of Turkey. Weak currencies also add to operational uncertainty for Apple, which can manifest itself in price politics. The high retail price of the iPhone in both of these countries contributes to the fact that its local equivalent in average gross pay work hours is between 409 and 461 for a base model iPhone 17 and between 639 and 709 hours for a standard iPhone 17 Pro Max.
Despite the phone being cheaper in India and Vietnam at under $1,000 converted, workers in these two countries would still have to put in considerably longer hours to afford the iPhone 17. Average gross hourly wages are lower in these countries and only reach around $1 to $1.60, compared to around $4 in Brazil or Turkey. India used to be among the nations selling the most expensive iPhones, but since Apple factories have opened in the country, the price has come down considerably (at least in nominal terms) as high levies are being skirted.
In Europe, higher prices combined with lower wages make the iPhone expensive in locations like Portugal or Hungary, while it is somewhat cheaper in places like Germany, the United Kingdom or Scandinavian nations. South Korea, which like Japan is known for its nominally cheap iPhones, is actually costlier for locals than some Western European locations when taking into account wage levels.
Only 21 and 31 average gross pay hours are equivalent to the price of an iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Max in the United States. This is outdone by Switzerland, where a combination of relatively low prices and high incomes makes the new iPhone the cheapest for the average worker. Depending on tax levels and individual tax brackets affecting take-home pay, the actual hours worked for an iPhone might differ. Due to data availability issues, gross pay is used for this statistic.
