iPrice: Smartphones are ‘most unaffordable’ in PH among other countries in SEA

In a July report of iPrice Insights Team—an e-commerce aggregator—showed that smartphones are the ‘least affordable’ in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

The report compared the average pricing of four smartphone makers (Apple, OPPO, Samsung, and vivo) on their low-end, mid-range, and high-end devices with the average monthly salaries of select SEA countries, namely Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

The group found that high-end and mid-range smartphones would cost a Filipino almost three months and two months’ worth of their salary, respectively.

“High-end models are simply out of reach for many, costing from three (3) to six (6) times monthly salary,” the report said.

While even low-end smartphones, that are supposed to be cheapest, would be “expensive investments” for customers in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines costing over 70% of the average monthly wage in the said countries.

Although, iPrice noted out that their study on affordability of smartphones is not just derived from the levels of income but also the varying pricing of the smartphones in SEA markets.

There is a significant difference between the actual pricing offered by online sellers from MRP or the Manufacturer’s Retail Price, which is a ‘considerable influence on affordability.’

The flagship phones from OPPO, vivo, and Samsung seen to vary about 50% between markets with “Philippines and Indonesia at the higher end,” while the iPhone 13 varies 10%.

“Although Southeast Asia is one of the mobile-first online shopping regions, the price of mobile phones is not friendly to its people,” the report said.