In South Africa, the official price of the basic iPhone 13 Pro (128 GB) will amount to R21,499. Similar to the previous year, buyers will find neither a charger nor earphones in the box. The only exception is France, where the law requires Apple to include earphones.
According to the latest Stat SA data, the average monthly earnings in South Africa is R 23,526 (R 20,160 net). This means that an average South African would have to work for 22.4 days to afford the iPhone 13 Pro (assuming they spend all the earned money). Compared to last year’s iPhone Index, looking at iPhone 12 affordability, South Africa’s result improved by 3, 1 day.
This is what the iPhone Index looked like in previous years:
- 2018 – 26.9 days
- 2019 – 17.6 days
- 2020 – 25.5 days
- 2021 – 22.4 days
A Swiss can earn money for the newest iPhone the quickest — just 4.4 days. An average American can afford the latest gadget after working for 5.9 days, Luxembourger and Australian — after 6.4 days.
Among the considered countries, the worst result was noted in Turkey, where the iPhone is worth 92.5 working days. The second and third-worst results belong to the Philippines and Brazil — 90.2 and 79.2 days respectively.
Methodology and data source
iPhone Index is an annual iPhone price to average wages ratio carried out by Picodi.com since 2018.
The iPhone Index 2021 has been calculated based on the iPhone 13 Pro (128 GB) prices announced publicly on local Apple or authorised reseller websites.
The average salaries come from the countries’ official ministry or statistical office pages and are up to date with iPhone prices published in each country. Net wages were obtained using local salary calculators. Monthly salaries were divided by 21 — the average number of working days in a month. In countries where statistical offices use weekly wages, we divided the salary by 5.
*For the latest consumer insights from South Africa and around the world, make sure to regularly visit the NOWinSA/Consumer page.
 prices and average earnings in various countries, including South Africa, where a person needs to work for 22, 4 days to afford Apple’s latest flagship, priced at R21, 499.){kind=link}