Nothing fancy here, just difference of prices/taxes in markets. Same as any YouTube video showing "I flew to Korea and got iPhone 17 Pro Max for cheaper".

So there are individuals who do that and it makes sense (if you enjoy the flying / traveling) and it's not considered "time is money"

There are also common parallel importing in many countries who find a dealer at some country that has the same product in lower local currency, buy bulk and get some discount, then resell it in the country where the official distribution is expensive.

That's why it is possible to find no eSIM/NFC iPhones in some stores (imported from China) or eSIM only ones in regions where you'd expect them to have also physical sim tray.

People have been doing this forever.

What’s more interesting was when people were doing this with software sold physically; IIRC Adobe creative suite was so expensive in Australia that it was cheaper to fly to the US and buy it