Does an iPhone
cost the same everywhere?

The full narration of the video.

The same iPhone is priced at about 5,700 yuan in the US and about 13,400 in Turkey. Same phone. So how is one more than double the other? Let's line up the launch price tags from last fall, all converted to Chinese yuan.

US: 5,700. China: 5,999. Japan: 6,300. Germany: 7,900. Brazil: 10,500. Turkey: 13,400. So America is cheapest? Not so fast. That American tag is hiding something. It leaves out the tax. It gets added at the register and depends on the state: from zero to about ten percent.

But in China, Japan and Germany, the tax is already baked into the tag. It's like comparing two bowls of noodles. One price is for plain noodles, the other includes all the toppings. Strip the tax off everywhere and compare again: China, about 5,300. The US and Japan, both about 5,700. Germany, about 6,600.

Now China is actually the cheapest. Germany is still a bit higher, and Apple has never said why. What about Brazil and Turkey? Peel off one layer of tax, and there are several more underneath. In Turkey, a phone first pays two small fees, then a special tax of up to fifty percent, and then twenty percent more on top of everything.

Layer upon layer, the taxes alone roughly double the price. Brazil is similar: imported phones pay a customs duty plus several other taxes, so the tag ends up more than eighty percent above America's. The third layer is the exchange rate. Apple usually sets its prices about once a year, but currencies move every day.

In 2022 the yen plunged. In dollar terms, iPhones in Japan suddenly got much cheaper, so in midyear Apple raised its Japanese prices by nearly a fifth. The last layer is competition. In China, homegrown phone brands are strong, and analysts say that's one reason prices there run lower. Last year there was also a government subsidy: fifteen percent off phones under 6,000 yuan, up to 500. This model was priced at 5,999, just under the line, so it came to 5,499.

So the answer is: no. The phone itself costs about the same wherever it leaves the factory. The gap is stacked on layer by layer: taxes, customs duties, exchange rates, and rivals. Next time someone says it's cheaper abroad, ask one thing first: does that price include tax? Try it yourself: switch countries on Apple's website and look up the same phone. Remember to strip out the tax first. Which country did you find was cheapest?