GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The youth mania for buying the newest smartphones and keeping up with the latest communication technologies prompted Mustafa Ahmed, 17, from Gaza City, to purchase the newest Apple phone, the iPhone 7, which was officially released on Sept. 6.
The official price of the phone was set at almost $650 in the United States, but Ahmed bought it for 5,000 Israeli shekels (around $1,333) from a Palestinian cellphone dealer, who himself got it from Saudi Arabia where it is sold at around 2,700 Saudi riyals ($720), since there are no Apple stores or official agents for the company in Gaza. Ahmed said he did not mind paying this sum for the device given its sophisticated features compared to other smartphones.