"It's Too Expensive" — Report Asserts Malaysians Need To Work 29 Days To Buy iPhone 14 Pro
The information was provided in respect to the base version of the iPhone 14 Pro.
By Wayne Garreth — 13 Sep 2022, 11:10 AM
A Reddit thread has recently gone viral for publishing a report illustrating the number of working days it'll take the average Malaysian to pay for the iPhone 14 Pro
Posted on the subreddit page r/Malaysia by user u/fifteenk, the title of the post reads, "An iPhone is now a day cheaper for us Malaysians."
What followed in the post was a display of the iPhone Index 2022, which detailed the number of working days the average person would need to complete in order to afford the new iPhone. Done amongst 46 countries, Malaysia was one of the nations included on the board.
Ranking 11th from the top, it was revealed that the average Malaysian would need to work exactly 29.2 days to afford the 128GB version of the iPhone 14 Pro.
After digging deeper into the origins of the report, the numbers actually revealed that this is the lowest amount of days for Malaysians to afford an iPhone in five years
Conducted by international e-commerce platform, Picodi.com, the study is in its fifth year of existence, and explained the process as to how the average number of days are calculated for each country.
"In Malaysia, the iPhone 14 Pro in its base version (128GB) was priced at [RM5,299]. Although the price in the US is USD999, it is worth noting, that this is the net price, valid only in four states where the sales tax is 0%."
Further referring to the summary dissection of the cost of living in Malaysia by the world's leading cost of living database, Numbeo, it was discovered that the average wage for a citizen in Malaysia is approximately RM3,810 net. "This means that an average Malaysian has to work for 29.2 days in order to purchase the iPhone 14 Pro, provided that all the money earned is saved for this purpose," continued the report.
It was further deciphered that the number of days for Malaysia had reached an all time low since the inception of the study in 2018.
Other notable countries included Switzerland, where the average citizen will earn money for the iPhone 14 Pro the quickest, in just 4.6 days.
The worse countries, however, include Brazil and the Philippines, which require 74.2 and 90.9 days, respectively. The worst country of the lot was Turkey, requiring the average citizen to work 146.7 man-days to earn money for the iPhone 14 Pro, which is almost half a year.
The report quickly garnered the attention of other Reddit users, who were puzzled by how the average Malaysian could afford the latest iPhone so quickly
One user was confused as to how one could earn roughly RM5,300 within 29.2 working days, asking if income is that high in Malaysia, to which another user wrote that it was the average income of citizens.
A few others conversed about their experience buying second hand iPhones, with one user saying how crazy it is that certain people want to buy the latest edition of the phone every single year.
Chiming in on his financial status, another user commented, "I can say that I am doing relatively well financially for my age and I don't see a reason to get the latest, especially not the [Pro Max] versions."
A couple of users using older models mentioned that they are satisfied with their iPhones, saying that they don't need an upgrade any time soon.
Certain few, however, couldn't help but freak over the contrasts between Switzerland and Turkey.
How much money would you spend for the latest iPhone 14 Pro?
Click here to read the full report on the 2022 iPhone Index.
