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August 31, 2026
Partner, Chief Economist
The Big Mac index measures currency valuation by comparing the price of an identical burger across countries. By that measure, the Brazilian real and Egyptian pound look deeply undervalued against the dollar, by 20% to 55%, see charts below.
But swap the burger for an iPhone 17 Pro with 256GB, and the picture inverts. The same phone costs 90% more in Brazil and 55% more in Egypt than it does in the US.
The difference is what goes into each product.
A burger is assembled from local labor, local rent and local beef, none of which can be arbitraged across borders, while an iPhone is a genuinely global good built from one supply chain at one dollar cost.
The bottom line is that the iPhone index is the better read on currency valuation, because the Big Mac's core weakness is the one Balassa and Samuelson identified 60 years ago. Productivity gains in rich countries lift wages economy-wide, including in the kitchen, so poor countries look cheap by construction rather than because their currencies are genuinely undervalued.
Note: iPhone Price Index: Compares local iPhone 17 Pro 256GB prices with US prices. Prices include local taxes. Eurozone countries share the Euro area Big Mac value. Sources: The Economist Big Mac Index, Apollo Chief Economist
Note: iPhone Price Index: Compares local iPhone 17 Pro 256GB prices with US prices. Prices include local taxes. Eurozone countries share the Euro area Big Mac value. Sources: The Economist Big Mac Index, Apollo Chief Economist
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