Apple's new iPhone SE released this week is less expensive than other models, but still too expensive to reach those who help make them in China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

For years, Apple has had a simple business strategy: release several models of high-priced iPhones to market to affluent global consumers. Meanwhile, it left the rest of the world market to Korean and Chinese smartphone makers, who have made less-expensive smartphones. That's how Apple maintained hefty profit margins more than a decade after it introduced the first iPhone.

In recent years, Apple changed its business strategy. It is making both expensive and relatively inexpensive iPhones. Expensive phones catered to the more affluent consumers of more developed counties, and cheap phones catered to the less affluent consumers of the less developed countries. The iPhone 13 Pro Max, which catered to the upper end of the market, sells between $1,099 and 1,599, depending on the features, while the iPhone SE is selling for less than half of that, at $429.

Apple doesn't want to leave the low-end market entirely to the competition.

The problem is that even at this price, the iPhone isn't inexpensive enough to reach the people at the bottom of the income pyramid, including the people of countries that make it in China, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. That’s according to the iPhone Price Index (IPI), which is compiled by Grover.com, and compares the affordability of iPhones across countries in terms of hours it takes for people who work at minimum wage to afford an iPhone.

Americans must work 114 hours to afford an iPhone 13. Compared to people in China, Thailand and Vietnam — countries where iPhones are manufactured — those work hours are low. They have to work 680 hours, 760 hours and 917 hours, respectively, to afford an iPhone 12. And it's not easy in countries like India, either.

That's a pity.

In 2007, the iPhone was an exotic product for the "innovators." Its novel features enchanted the "early adopters." Nowadays, the iPhone and competing smartphones are "utilities," necessary products for the masses to navigate the digitalization of everyday life.