The long-awaited iPhone 6s is here and will be released in the online Apple store on September 25. Its swanky new interface and incorporation of technologies, such as the 3D Touch, enables users to revolutionise their interaction with their smartphone, and is bound to make the newest addition to the Apple family a desirable unit for sure.
Other notable specs from the 6s model includes having a 12 megapixel camera and the ability to capture 4K quality videos. Available in a myriad of stunning colours such as rose gold, space gray and silver, the iPhone 6s’ cover glass is more durable than before, and is made from a new alloy, which according to Apple is also used in the aerospace industry.
The 6s boasts of a beautiful design, but the phone is not just about the looks. The improved specs also guarantees a user experience like no other. With all that being said, like any other Malaysian who enjoys a good bargain, what exactly is the price of the 6s, and is it really worth our precious salary?
According to reports by Tech Radar and The Week UK, the iPhone 6s with a memory space of 16GB will retail for £539 (approximately RM3,569). In Singapore, the 16GB iPhone 6s will be sold for SGD1,048 (about RM3,222), inclusive of GST.
Indeed it is quite a hefty price for a mobile phone and we wondered just how long a Malaysian will have to work on average, in order to purchase themselves a brand new iPhone 6s.
We’ve done the legwork for you and here are several professions from a range of specialties including retail, nursing and engineering, along with their pay per hour.
We used RM3,500 as the benchmark seeing as although the actual price after its official release in Malaysia might be lower than that figure, you might still have to spend some money on purchasing a high quality phone cover. The information for each profession was derived from JobStreet’s Salary Report and calculated based on the estimated salary per annum.
Taxi driver: RM5.50/hour
Cashier at Giant: RM7/hour
F&B waitress: RM8/hour
Uniqlo retail assisstant: RM8.5/hour
Nurse: RM12.50/hour
Clerk: RM13.50/hour
Graphic designer: RM17/hour
Marketing executive: RM19/hour
Mechanical engineer: RM24/hour
Senior lecturer: RM26/hour
Assuming each person works for an average of 8 hours a day, here are the results:
Priced at approximately RM3.5k, purchasing a 6s would mean a regular part-time worker in Giant or Uniqlo for example, would have to work five days a week for about three months. A graphic designer on the other hand would probably be able to obtain the mobile phone in about half the time.
This is, of course, excluding the fact that a portion of the money earned will have to be used for daily necessities like food. So the actual number of hours or days worked in order to afford the iPhone 6s would be a lot longer than the figures stated in the graph.
Indeed the 6s is not the one to beat when it comes to affordability, however based on the aforementioned specs, it is a rather nifty and useful device that could potentially double as our HD camera and personal assistant all in one.
Though the estimated salary for several professions is only a rough figure to go by, it is still interesting to see the value of the iPhone 6s in terms of the hours we will have to work for it. Whether or not the phone is worth our hard earned pay or otherwise, it is still up to the buyer to decide. What’s for certain is that it is a strong contender in the current cell phone market, and regardless of the price, the 6s will definitely see plenty of people queuing up in order to obtain it—question is, will you be one of them too?
