The iPhone is many things, but it’s certainly not cheap. If you live in Angola though, chances are you’ll get one cheaper than anywhere else in the world.
This is according to the Technology Price Index, a comparative report of prices of tech products globally, compiled by Linio, the Rocket Internet-owned online retailer. In compiling the report, Linio measured the cost of different iPhone models in 72 countries “without the cost of phone service, in all online providers for the country, as well as at least four biggest retailers in the country’s five largest cities.”
Per the report, an iPhone in Angola will cost just over $400, about $200 cheaper than in the United States.
The disparity in prices, Linio says, is down to the “huge influence of tariffs, taxes, and inflation on price.” Low prices in Angola and other Middle East nations are down to lower taxes on consumer products. In contrast, iPhones in Venezuela cost almost $100,000 largely because “inflation and import restrictions have taken a huge toll on consumer access to the market.” Given its economic woes, Venezuela is expected to be in recession till 2019.
Despite being home to cheap iPhones, Angola’s capital city, Luanda, remains one of the world’s most expensive cities. With high living costs, Luanda ranked top of Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey—an analysis which covered 211 cities across five continents—in 2013 and 2014. The political and commercial capital, Luanda has been beneficiary of Angola’s immense oil wealth. But that wealth hasn’t been equitably spread as 68% of Luanda’s residents live below the poverty line.