iPhone Index: Czechs have to work nearly three weeks to buy newest model

The new global iPhone 2023 Index, which shows how many full working days people in different countries need to work in order to purchase the latest iPhone 15 Pro (128GB) at local prices, reveals that Czechs need to work an average of over 18 days to afford Apple’s latest phone model.

International e-commerce platform Picodi uses countries’ average net monthly salaries and the average selling price of an iPhone 15 Pro in different nations to calculate how many days of full-time work it would take to purchase an iPhone.

According to Picodi, in Czechia the basic version of the flagship iPhone 15 Pro was priced at CZK 29,990 upon its release (CZK 3,500 less than last year). According to the latest data from the Czech Statistical Office, the country’s average monthly salary is CZK 43,193 gross (CZK 34,531 net). 

Therefore, the average Czech needs to work exactly 18.2 days without spending money on anything else in order to buy the iPhone. Out of all surveyed countries, Czechia falls roughly in the median in terms of days required to purchase the phone.

Czechia has seen considerable improvement in the relative affordability of the latest iPhone for its workers who are looking to buy it within the country’s borders. In 2018, the average Czech worker needed 26.2 days to buy the latest model. This dropped markedly in the following years, reaching 21.4 days in 2021.

Czechs are considerably worse off compared to some of their European counterparts. For example, people in Belgium need to work just 10.5 days, in Austria 10.4 days, in Germany 9.5 days, in Ireland 8.4 days, and in Denmark 7 days to afford the latest iPhone. 

Switzerland performs strongest in the ranking: the average worker needs only to work 4.2 days in order to purchase the iPhone 15 Pro. Out of all European countries, Montenegro performs worst. In the Balkan country, people must work at least 33.6 days just to get the latest Apple phone. Greece (28 days) Hungary (26.7), Slovenia (25.2), Portugal (25.1), Poland (23.2), Lithuania (21.1), and Slovakia (18.3) also all fare worse than Czechia.

Strong (nominal) wage growth in Czechia – increasing over 35 percent in gross terms since 2018 – has helped Czechia improve its position in the iPhone 2023 Index. However, simultaneous and strong inflation means that the current 18 days needed to buy the latest iPhone will be considerable and too long for many.