Brazilians pay top dollar for the iPhone 6
Brazilians pay the world's highest price for the iPhone 6, a recent study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Deutsche Bank has found.
The most recent edition of the Mapping Prices report, which compares the buying power of consumers in the world's top 20 economies, has shown that Brazilians need to spend $1,234 to get an entry-level iPhone 6.
Brazil is followed by Russia, where the Apple device costs $932, so 32 percent less. Other countries where the smartphone is also more expensive than usual - the iPhone 6 with 16GB costs $650 in the US, so less than half the price seen in Brazil - include China ($862) and South Africa ($818).
"The issue in Brazil that some Apple products are manufactured locally by Foxconn but some are imported and that's the case of the iPhone 6 - and we happen to have a very heavy import tax burden in Brazil," says research director at IT Data, Ivair Rodrigues.
About 65-70 percent of the final price of the iPhone 6 in Brazil accounts for import taxes, so it would make sense for Apple to produce the phones locally, the analyst says.
"There other factors influencing this kind of price: high street retailers in Brazil are very greedy and profit margins are sky high. In addition, there's some quite prohibitive logistics costs involved given the price of the products, so you need more specialized transportation companies to move them around Brazil," the analyst adds.
"But if you are selling for a high price and people are still buying, then it is probably interesting for Apple to keep prices up."
Foxconn makes some Apple products in Brazil in a facility in the countryside of São Paulo. The company did not respond to ZDNet's requests for comment at the time of writing.