European consumer electronics rental company Grover's 'Electronic Price Index 2021' showed that South Africa has the ninth most expensive electronics out of the 50 countries included in the study.

Further, the study also found that graphics cards had recorded the highest deviation above the median price of the 26 consumer electronics items in the study at 166.84% above average in Argentina.

This trend is connected to the rise of the cryptocurrency industry and the notable growth in demand for silicon chips owing to the impact of the pandemic, said Grover international and growth VP Giacomo Dalle Vedove.

The pandemic caused disruptions to the availability of electronic goods globally. On average, Argentina is the most expensive country in which to buy electronics out of the countries included in the index, with a total deviation of 67.34% above the average cost of common electronic goods.

Hong Kong offers the cheapest electronic items, with costs averaging at 16.46% below the median, followed by the US and Indonesia.

Graphics card prices in Argentina were 166.84% above the average, 57.15% higher in Brazil and 43.21% higher in the UK. Conversely, graphics card prices in Bulgaria were 43% below global average prices, 42.09% lower in Canada and 39.44% lower in Hong Kong and 12.38% lower than the average in South Africa.

Of all the consumer electronic goods in the study, entertainment and electronics multinational Sony Playstation 5 is the worst impacted by global supply shortages and was sold out in most of the 50 countries in the study, with availability in only 12 out of 50 countries in brick-and-mortar stores and 18 out of 50 on e-commerce platforms.

“At Grover, we witnessed the impact supply chain disruptions have had on the availability and affordability of electronic goods. Though we took proactive measures to maintain our own stock, the severity of supply chain disruption had market-wide ramifications,” he said.

Access to technology is an important aspect of modern living, and the availability and affordability of electronics across the globe could prove vital to any country’s future growth. Even though this study is intended to draw attention to the present time, supply chain challenges and economic inflation are relevant now as they will be in years to come.

The long-term ramifications of the pandemic are still unclear, but this study illuminates how the consumer electronic industry has reacted to it. Technology and electronics have become important not only for business innovation, but also for personal lives, he said.

“Technology is ubiquitous within the modern world and will only increase in importance as further advances are made. This study draws attention to the fragility of current supply chains and in the hope that these issues do not become commonplace,” Dalle Vedove said.