A new study shows that the average person in the Philippines would need to work for more than three months to afford Apple’s newest smartphone.
According to the 2025 iPhone Affordability Index by Tenscope, a Filipino worker must work for 101 days to afford an iPhone 17 Pro with 256GB of storage. This calculation is based on the country’s average monthly net wage of $308, which is roughly 17,600 Philippine pesos.
The Philippines ranked second highest out of 33 countries studied, meaning its citizens find the new iPhone among the least affordable in the world. The top spot went to India, where workers need 160 days of wages to afford the device.
| Country | Working days to afford an iPhone 17 pro |
| India | 160 working days |
| Philippines | 101 working days |
| Vietnam | 99 working days |
| Turkey | 89 working days |
| Brazil | 77 working days |
| Thailand | 61 working days |
| Malaysia | 45 working days |
| Chile | 32 working days |
| Hungary | 27 working days |
| Portugal | 24 working days |
Other countries where the phone is very expensive relative to local wages include Vietnam at 99 days, Türkiye at 89 days, and Brazil at 77 days.
In stark contrast, the study found that a worker in Luxembourg only needs to work for three days to earn enough for the same phone. This means a worker in India must work 51 times longer than someone in Luxembourg to buy the iPhone 17 Pro.
The global average across all countries in the index is 26 working days. In Asia, Singapore had the best affordability, with citizens needing just 8 days of work.
