IPHONE BLACK MARKET CRACK
"We don't like that it's done illegally, but there's no other way."Ĭustoms officers attempt to strictly monitor and enforce what's brought into the country, but once the phones are there, it's highly unlikely that police would crack down on illegal sellers. "It's the same process to import an iPhone as it is to move a kilo of cocaine," said Gufre. price, but they're still cheaper than market value. They go for a few hundred dollars over the U.S.
Store owners like Gufre buy from the resellers, but the devices are most commonly sold on Mercado Libre, Latin America's eBay. Once in Argentina, unlocked phones are sold to direct resellers who then attach their own price tag.
The Apple contraband movement even uses pilots and flight attendants to bring as many iPhones as they can fit in their luggage, according to Emiliano Gufre, who owns an independent Apple repair shop. At least 1.8 million of those devices were obtained through the black market, according to ENACOM data.Īrgentinian iPhone resellers either have connections in customs or pay off people to smuggle them in from Chile or Colombia, where iPhones sell for similar prices as in the U.S. Approximately 12 million smartphones - mostly domestically produced - were bought in Argentina last year. Many consumers take vacations to countries like the United States to make their purchases, said Agustin Garzon, executive manager of the National Agency of Communications (ENACOM).įor those who can't travel, there are an abundant supply of iPhones that have been smuggled into the country. A mural in Buenos AiresĪrgentinians aren't ones to wait around for policy, and have instead found their own way to obtain iPhones. It's actually cheaper to fly from Argentina to Miami and buy an iPhone in the United States, than to just buy an iPhone in Argentina.
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