It's not just techies: Thieves are also excited about the new iPhone

Tim Cook introduces the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus

(Image credit: Stephen Lam/ Getty Images)

published 9 September 2015

Worried that nabbing one of the iPhone 6S Pluses is going to break the bank? Be glad you don't live in Brazil. Due to tariffs and taxes in the South American country, an iPhone 6 costs over $1,200, National Geographic reports. As a result, smuggling phones illegally into Brazil is a billion-dollar business — and the phones being moved into the country are typically stolen from the United States.

Because American smartphones are mainly subsidized through contracts with carriers, smartphones in the U.S. are relatively inexpensive. But in Brazil, it would take the average person 41 days of work to even afford the price tag ($1,286). In Vietnam, it takes the average person over 181 days of work to afford an iPhone.

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According to numbers gathered by Sprint lawyers during court proceedings with traffickers, the vast majority of the stolen phones reviewed were sent to Hong Kong, where Sprint attorney James Baldinger says they're "unlocked, re-flashed, re-kitted—which means they'll get put in a new box with new accessories and with an instruction manual that's in the language of whatever the destination country is."The destination country can be anywhere the phones might fetch a high price — countries like Brazil, where subsidies aren't common and various fees hike the legal price of cell phones into the four-figure range. [National Geographic]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.