When the iPhone 15 was released, exactly a year ago, I was in the US. Some friends asked me to bring it back to Vietnam when I returned. I said it would be a long time before it arrived, so the iPhone 15 would probably be sold out in Vietnam by then, and I wouldn’t have that much cash to buy many iPhone 15s. Students live just enough to make ends meet, so how could they afford to buy the latest iPhone?

Curious about the iPhone launch in the US, I passed by the Apple Store (a store that sells iPhones and Apple products) in Boston and stopped by to take a look.

The number of people in the store was larger than usual, but there were no long lines like in Singapore or Thailand, and no "reservation" service to queue up to buy for you. I think partly because owning an iPhone in the US is not difficult, partly because the "iPhone fever" is not as big as in many other countries.

In a recent analysis, based on per capita income analysis, it was found that with the starting price of 28.99 million VND of the iPhone 16 Pro, an average Vietnamese person would have to spend 53.1 days' salary to save enough money to buy the product. This is the starting price, not to mention the versions that cost much more. At the top of the chart, for example, Swiss people only spend 4 days' salary to buy the iPhone 16 Pro.

This data is for reference only but also gives readers a sense of the price of iPhone products in relation to people's income.

According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Vietnam is the leading country in the number of iPhone users in Southeast Asia in 2022. The iPhone usage rate in Vietnam in 2023 is also higher than many countries in the region such as Thailand, Singapore... countries with higher per capita income than Vietnam. From macro statistics, I looked around at my friends and saw that many people also upgraded to a new iPhone very quickly when a new product was launched. Some of my friends thought the price of an iPhone would be equal to their entire month's salary.

Why do so many Vietnamese people like the iPhone? And more specifically, why are so many people willing to pay for a product that "eats" so much of their personal finances?

I believe that shopping is a personal choice and we need to respect it, just like people say "don't teach the rich how to spend money". But from a social perspective, besides high-income people who are willing to spend on products like iPhone, what is the reason that people with modest incomes are also willing to buy iPhone?

As an average iPhone user, I appreciate the product in many aspects: Easy-to-use and user-friendly interface, convenient ecosystem with many easily connected products, durable products with many years of life, good customer care service... These are features that even people without high technology expertise can still notice when using the iPhone. However, those reasons are not enough for a person to be willing to change iPhone like changing clothes every season.

One of the things that is clear about consumers buying iPhones is that they are not just buying a regular phone. Apple is not just selling a phone, they are selling “class” – or at least that is what buyers believe they will get when they own an Apple product.

The higher the price of the product, the higher your social status will be. That is why, every time Apple releases a new product, we often see unboxing videos, posts about people lining up to own an iPhone, and close-ups of the latest iPhone in hand. Even when the imported iPhone 16 Pro Max is priced at up to 79 million VND, many people still spend money to buy it just to own it one to two weeks earlier, before this product is sold in Vietnam.

For tech enthusiasts and those with a good income, owning the latest iPhone is completely within reach. But when you have to trade an entire month’s salary for an iPhone, whether it is a worthy investment is a question to consider, even though emotionally, owning a luxury product is considered a symbol of rising social status.

Personally, every time I receive a new monthly salary, after calculating basic expenses, if I spend a portion on buying books, reading online newspapers (international newspapers, paying monthly or yearly), a small portion on savings... then the remaining amount will be a long time before I dare to think about a new iPhone. Of course, I cannot "starve, starve" and forgo other necessary expenses for a new iPhone, because in fact my old phone is still working fine.

I know friends who lived on credit cards until they "broke down" and had to convert their credit card debt into installment debt, struggling month after month because they couldn't control their spending.

Sometimes we think that people will think highly of us for having the latest iPhone or some other luxury item, but we probably don’t care that much. I can’t remember any of my friends who have the latest iPhone. Social status doesn’t necessarily come with an iPhone, but many people have a mortgage to pay off.

Owning a luxury item may bring short-term joy, but financial sustainability is the long-term joy we should consider.

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