Premium Cellphone Worth $940m Imported in Nine Months

Premium cellphones worth $940 million and costing over $600 apiece were imported during the current fiscal year’s first nine months (March 21-Dec. 21, 2021), according to the spokesman of the Central Headquarters for Combating Commodity and Currency Smuggling.
“Due to the high forex outlay of the imported premium smartphones, the parliament had increased customs tariffs for phones worth over $600 from 5% to 12% in the fiscal 2021-22 budget law. But unfortunately, it was not effective in reducing the attractiveness of premium phones,” Hamidreza Dehqani-Nia also told the news portal of the headquarters, Epe.ir.
During this period, smartphones priced over $600 used 30% of mobile currency resources, i.e., near $1 billion, but only covered the needs of 5% of the population. About 90% of imported phones costing over $600 belonged to Apple products.