5 ms·

> US has the cheapest iPhone It is interesting to note among Developed countries, the US has the cheapest everything. Cars, computers, building materials, clo

by grecy 9y ago

> US has the cheapest iPhone It is interesting to note among Developed countries, the US has the cheapest everything. Cars, computers, building materials, clothes, TVs. You name it, it is cheapest in the USA. It is interesting to note this is because people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries. Companies can charge higher prices in other developed countries because people have enough money to pay it, but they can't in the US.

drawnwren 9y ago
That's why the iPhone is cheaper in Thailand and Korea where the median and mean incomes are lower .... Oh wait, it isn't.
- djtriptych 9y ago
  Median income Thai and Korean people don't buy iPhones.
  - drawnwren 9y ago
    This is actually a) not true and b) not relevant to the original argument. I was amazed by how many people I met in Thailand and Korea who were struggling to meet $500 rent that had iPhones. More importantly, the original post argued that price of iPhone was directly correlated with disposable income.
    - stevenwoo 9y ago
      Are those people with iPhones in Korea and Thailand buying on installment or paying by the month/renting the phones instead of buying?
TremendousJudge 9y ago
Those goods are also cheaper than in most developing countries as well. As in, the pair of Levi's that cost you $40 in Amazon will run you much higher in developing countries. Sure, you can get cheaper jeans from other local brands, but Levi's is seen as premium quality
dmoy 9y ago
> people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries Is this true? I always heard it was the other way around: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/5-countries-most-money-capita.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/... And median: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
leipert 9y ago
Really? To me it seems like the US has a higher disposable income per household (after taxes) [1]: US ~41k, Switzerland ~36k, France ~30k and Germany ~32k [1]: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/income/ http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/income/
- jsemrau 9y ago
  I would say it's the distribution that matters. https://data.oecd.org/chart/4VMU https://data.oecd.org/chart/4VMU
- pera 9y ago
  In Argentina and Brazil taxes are so high that it's often cheaper to travel to the US just to buy a laptop like a MBP (for instance, the cheapest touch bar model is about $3k USD). And to give some perspective: the average salary over there is ~10 times lower than here in the US.
mikeash 9y ago
Typical US sales tax of 0-6% versus typical European VAT of 20-25% certainly makes a big difference too.
- jsemrau 9y ago
  The funny thing with taxes is that in the end, if you pay the government or a company it makes no difference. However, if you pay the government they invest it in public schools, streets, health-care. Companies benefit the shareholder.
  - mikeash 9y ago
    How is this related to what we're talking about here?
  - t0y 9y ago
    Spotted the government worker.
khalilravanna 9y ago
"It is interesting to note this is because people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries." Is this a commonly known thing? First I've heard it. I would have figured it would be the opposite given our overall tax rate compared to somewhere like Sweden is infinitesimally smaller. Can you point to some analysis/citations for this? It does seem to make sense in my mind as, anecdotally, when I was in Germany I noticed a large number of high end Audis and BMWs. Cars that are $80k in the US would be well over $100k in Germany. (This is perhaps an oversimplification of the situation given that there are a great deal more factors involved in the pricing of German-made cars within Germany vs. selling the same cars in a much more competitive foreign market like the US'.)
- nucleardog 9y ago
  The tax rate is lower, but the places charging those taxes do generally use them for providing public services that individuals would be paying for directly or indirectly, so that likely offsets part of it. Past there, I'd suspect that it comes down to society as a whole having a more positive outcome, while individuals potentially having slightly worse outcomes. If we lower everyone's income in taxes but reinvest that money in healthcare and mental health services, quality education, etc, then we lift a lot of unproductive members of society up and have them all producing for us as well. The middle class may earn slightly less, but we can basically chop the lower classes/poverty stricken individuals right out of the equation - Sweden has 1% of the population below the poverty line, while the US has 15% - that's going to skew the average upward quite a bit.
- notfromhere 9y ago
  It's not true at all. Things are cheaper in the US because it doesn't have high sales taxes and the huge order sizes means its cheaper
bogomipz 9y ago
>"It is interesting to note this is because people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries" I am curious did you just make this up? This is a completely bogus statement. The US is actually amongst highest per capita disposable income countries. See: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/5-countries-most-money-capita.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/... https://www.currencyfair.com/blog/which-country-has-highest-monthly-disposable-income/ https://www.currencyfair.com/blog/which-country-has-highest-...

by grecy 9y ago

drawnwren 9y ago

That's why the iPhone is cheaper in Thailand and Korea where the median and mean incomes are lower .... Oh wait, it isn't.

djtriptych 9y ago
Median income Thai and Korean people don't buy iPhones.
- drawnwren 9y ago
  This is actually a) not true and b) not relevant to the original argument. I was amazed by how many people I met in Thailand and Korea who were struggling to meet $500 rent that had iPhones. More importantly, the original post argued that price of iPhone was directly correlated with disposable income.
  - stevenwoo 9y ago
    Are those people with iPhones in Korea and Thailand buying on installment or paying by the month/renting the phones instead of buying?

TremendousJudge 9y ago

Those goods are also cheaper than in most developing countries as well. As in, the pair of Levi's that cost you $40 in Amazon will run you much higher in developing countries. Sure, you can get cheaper jeans from other local brands, but Levi's is seen as premium quality

dmoy 9y ago

> people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries Is this true? I always heard it was the other way around: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/5-countries-most-money-capita.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/... And median: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

leipert 9y ago

Really? To me it seems like the US has a higher disposable income per household (after taxes) [1]: US ~41k, Switzerland ~36k, France ~30k and Germany ~32k [1]: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/income/ http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/income/

jsemrau 9y ago
I would say it's the distribution that matters. https://data.oecd.org/chart/4VMU https://data.oecd.org/chart/4VMU
pera 9y ago
In Argentina and Brazil taxes are so high that it's often cheaper to travel to the US just to buy a laptop like a MBP (for instance, the cheapest touch bar model is about $3k USD). And to give some perspective: the average salary over there is ~10 times lower than here in the US.

mikeash 9y ago

Typical US sales tax of 0-6% versus typical European VAT of 20-25% certainly makes a big difference too.

jsemrau 9y ago
The funny thing with taxes is that in the end, if you pay the government or a company it makes no difference. However, if you pay the government they invest it in public schools, streets, health-care. Companies benefit the shareholder.
- mikeash 9y ago
  How is this related to what we're talking about here?
- t0y 9y ago
  Spotted the government worker.

khalilravanna 9y ago

"It is interesting to note this is because people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries." Is this a commonly known thing? First I've heard it. I would have figured it would be the opposite given our overall tax rate compared to somewhere like Sweden is infinitesimally smaller. Can you point to some analysis/citations for this? It does seem to make sense in my mind as, anecdotally, when I was in Germany I noticed a large number of high end Audis and BMWs. Cars that are $80k in the US would be well over $100k in Germany. (This is perhaps an oversimplification of the situation given that there are a great deal more factors involved in the pricing of German-made cars within Germany vs. selling the same cars in a much more competitive foreign market like the US'.)

nucleardog 9y ago
The tax rate is lower, but the places charging those taxes do generally use them for providing public services that individuals would be paying for directly or indirectly, so that likely offsets part of it. Past there, I'd suspect that it comes down to society as a whole having a more positive outcome, while individuals potentially having slightly worse outcomes. If we lower everyone's income in taxes but reinvest that money in healthcare and mental health services, quality education, etc, then we lift a lot of unproductive members of society up and have them all producing for us as well. The middle class may earn slightly less, but we can basically chop the lower classes/poverty stricken individuals right out of the equation - Sweden has 1% of the population below the poverty line, while the US has 15% - that's going to skew the average upward quite a bit.
notfromhere 9y ago
It's not true at all. Things are cheaper in the US because it doesn't have high sales taxes and the huge order sizes means its cheaper

bogomipz 9y ago

>"It is interesting to note this is because people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries" I am curious did you just make this up? This is a completely bogus statement. The US is actually amongst highest per capita disposable income countries. See: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/5-countries-most-money-capita.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090616/... https://www.currencyfair.com/blog/which-country-has-highest-monthly-disposable-income/ https://www.currencyfair.com/blog/which-country-has-highest-...