Yeah, for some reason electronics are one of the few items that basically cost the same in Switzerland as in the neighbouring countries, which make them fairly cheap in terms of buying power.
The food prices though …
Homegrown problem
Importing food is made deliberately difficult and expensive in order to support Swiss agriculture.
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-food-so-expensive-in-Switzerland
Worth mentioning that this looks to be based on mean salaries rather than median so your real world percentages would likely be higher.
Calculating the UK out:
- £799 for the phone
- 2.91% of pay
- Salary they calculated it at is £27,457
That sits abit lower than the median here in the UK but the mean is much higher
The UK government says the median household income is 32,349£, the mean is 39,328£ in 2022. Data from 2020: the median was 29,900£, while the mean was 36,900£.
In both cases the median comes way closer to the £27,457 you calculated than the mean.
And all the Applefanboys will be like “shut up and take my money”.
I want the better camera and larger screen, but I do not want to pay full price. Verizon won’t subsidize it for me because I am still “paying off” the “free” iPhone 13 they gave me when I traded in my pretty new iPhone 11. The “free” consists of them billing me $22 a month, and them paying that charge themselves on the same bill. I’m sure there are explanations for how this benefits them, but I struggle to understand this Rube Goldberg billing strategy.
I’m not saying I feel swindled, I’m saying I find the whole thing really odd.
Telecos make minimal amounts on the hardware - its all in the batshit insane service costs. To give an (out of date ) example, back when ATT was getting rid of contracts I talked with some people who knew the ins and outs. On the contract model, the first 6 months paid for the device subsidy and the network, the last 18 months was pure profit. They where all super excited about the financial gains of no longer needing to do phone subsidies, but still have the customer locked in for 2+ years.
That’s a good point. Profit margins on my $90 a month phone plan must be insane. That said, my home 5G internet is only $35 a month, so I’m not doing that bad.
It could be a tax thing, move some of their expenses to a different year? Or they were able to negotiate leasing from the supplier, instead of paying up front they use the money to invest in the company or invest it / stock buybacks.
I’m not a finance guy or have any special knowledge. Above is pure speculation.
This information reflects the current contract terms Verizon offers to everyone.
iPhone is $899 + tax. Verizon pays Apple what you pay for the iPhone. You sign a contract for 36 months that states you’ll pay Verizon a monthly installment without interest.
As for the “free” phone, it really can be free. Based on their own internal metrics is what makes you eligible. Accounts the system has flagged for fear of losing (retention), good standing (no missed payments), long time customers (loyalty), new customers, or when there is an abundance of stock and a new model is set to release. The catch is that you’re on the hook for the price of the phone if you upgrade early or want to cancel your line. The average rep is not letting you upgrade because the system says no. A manager can override but if they do, you lose the credit. Your next bill will include the price of the phone. They’re still making money off you in the long term whether or not the phone is free. It’s calculated business.
Would also be interesting to see this series with a “net income” type of divisor (as opposed to “revenue” for the sake of analogy) to adjust for differences in CoL
