The amount of money Apple earns from its top-selling product is quite substantial. Based on its quarterly profit for the three months ending in June, the tech giant generated $20.4 million per hour from iPhone sales alone, solidifying its status as Apple’s largest revenue stream.
While the amount of money Apple earns from iPhone sales continues to grow, so does the affordability gap for iPhones. The latest data show just how shocking that gap has become.
According to data presented by Jemlit.com, the iPhone is most affordable for Swiss and Americans, who need to work only two days to buy one, while Indians have to work 75 times longer, or nearly six months, to afford the same device. Here is how other countries rank on this list.
Last month, Apple launched its latest-generation smartphone- the iPhone 17. Although the new model features a sharper front camera, additional photo features, and improved scratch resistance, the iPhone maker still faces criticism for falling behind rivals in AI-driven tools, such as photo editing.
However, the main talking point is not the iPhone’s camera or design. It is the huge price difference around the world.
Depending on where you live, the time it takes to earn enough for an iPhone 17 varies widely, as Apple’s pricing, taxes, and wages differ around the world. The latest International Labour Organisation data shows the working-hour gap between countries has never been wider.
Today, buying an iPhone is the most affordable option in Switzerland, where a combination of relatively low prices and high incomes makes the new iPhone the most affordable for the average worker.
The Swiss will pay $1,003 for a base iPhone 17 model, roughly 15% more than Americans. Based on their average gross pay per hour, they have to work only 17 hours, or 2.1 8-hour working days, to afford one, the least of all surveyed nations.
Americans are close behind, with 21 working hours and 2.6 working days needed to buy a base iPhone 17 model priced at $799, or about $557 after sales tax in California.
Statistics show that South Korea, known for its nominally cheap iPhones, is the third most affordable place to buy Apple’s latest smartphone, with a price of $928 for a base model and 52 working hours, or 6.5 working days to afford one.
The iPhone prices look very different in Europe, where the base model costs around $1,200 in Hungary, $ 1,150 in Portugal and Germany, and $1,080 in the United Kingdom.
Yet Portuguese and Hungarians have to work roughly six times as long as Americans or Swiss to afford one, around three weeks.
In Mexico and Brazil, buying an iPhone is even more challenging, with workers requiring 44 and 51 days, respectively, based on their average gross hourly pay.
Turkey, Vietnam, and India are on the other side of the list as the least affordable countries to buy an iPhone. High import duties, luxury taxes, and weak currency have turned Turkey into one of the most expensive iPhone markets, with the iPhone 17 starting price of $1,885, 120% more than in the U.S.
This high retail price means local workers need around 46 hours of work for a base model, or roughly two and a half months of work.
Despite the iPhone being cheaper in Vietnam and India at under $1,000, workers in both countries still have to work considerably longer hours to afford it.
With the average gross hourly wage of just $1 to $1.60, Indians need to work 967 hours, or nearly six months, to buy an iPhone 17, while Vietnamese workers require 598 hours, or about three and a half months of work.
Despite the widening affordability gap, iPhone users remain hooked to their devices, and several factors explain this phenomenon.
Premium features, including top-quality cameras and powerful processors, along with seamless updates, have solidified the iPhone’s leadership position in the premium smartphone segment, driving steady revenue growth.
Its rising popularity in markets like India further boosted sales, pushing Apple’s revenue to record highs, far above any other segment of its business. The company’s official data show just how big that difference is.
In the three months ending June 29, Apple grossed a whopping $96.4 billion, ranking third among the GAFAM giants. Nearly half of that value, or $44.6 billion, came from iPhone sales. This figure is even more impressive when broken down into smaller time scales.
Based on its quarterly revenue, Apple grossed $340,000 per minute and a staggering $5,670 per second from the iPhone alone. To put that in perspective, Apple made in just eight seconds from iPhone sales what the average U.S. worker makes in a year, around $50,000.
