Ask anyone in Malaysia whether life is more expensive than it used to be and the answer is obvious. The official numbers agree: the country's all-items Consumer Price Index rose 38.3 per cent between January 2010 and August 2026. Food is up nearly two thirds. Eating out costs more, so does school, so does transport.
But the same official record holds a category that went the other way, and it is the one closest to what we cover. We pulled the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) Consumer Price Index by division and lined up all thirteen categories over the same window, January 2010 to August 2026. Only two are cheaper in August 2026 than they were in 2010, and the biggest faller of the whole index is Information and Communication, the basket that holds phones, computers, and phone and internet service, down 8.9 per cent.
Contents
Here is every category, measured the same way: its price index in January 2010, its index in August 2026, and the change between the two.
| Category | Jan 2010 | Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information and Communication | 100.3 | 91.4 | minus 8.9% |
| Clothing and Footwear | 101.2 | 93.2 | minus 7.9% |
| Insurance and Financial Services | 99.9 | 118.2 | plus 18.3% |
| Recreation, Sport and Culture | 100.2 | 122.1 | plus 21.9% |
| Transport | 98.9 | 125.0 | plus 26.4% |
| Household Furnishings, Equipment and Maintenance | 100.0 | 127.5 | plus 27.5% |
| Education | 99.5 | 132.5 | plus 33.2% |
| Housing, Utilities, Gas and Other Fuels | 99.4 | 134.0 | plus 34.8% |
| Health | 99.4 | 134.0 | plus 34.8% |
| Personal Care, Social Protection and Miscellaneous | 99.9 | 135.3 | plus 35.4% |
| Overall (all items) | 99.4 | 137.5 | plus 38.3% |
| Food and Beverages | 99.0 | 161.2 | plus 62.8% |
| Restaurant and Accommodation Services | 98.7 | 161.3 | plus 63.4% |
| Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco | 98.3 | 178.5 | plus 81.6% |
The finding, told as a stack
1. Information and Communication fell 8.9 per cent, the biggest drop of any category. This is DOSM's division for information and communication technology equipment (including mobile phones and computers), software, and telephone and internet services. As a whole basket, its index went from 100.3 in January 2010 to 91.4 in August 2026. This is the category average. It is not a claim that any single phone or plan fell by exactly that amount.
2. It is one of only two categories below its 2010 level. The other is Clothing and Footwear, down 7.9 per cent. The remaining eleven categories all rose.
3. Overall prices rose 38.3 per cent. The all-items index went from 99.4 in January 2010 to 137.5 in August 2026. That is the average Malaysian basket, and it moved in one direction.
4. Food and Beverages rose 62.8 per cent, from an index of 99.0 to 161.2. It is the third-biggest rise of any category.
5. The restaurant and accommodation category (eating out and hotels together) rose even more, up 63.4 per cent, just ahead of food itself.
6. The steepest riser of all is Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, up 81.6 per cent, close to double its 2010 level.
7. The gap, in one line: the category that holds phones and connectivity is about 9 per cent cheaper than in 2010, while the food category is about 63 per cent dearer.
What the category actually covers
DOSM groups spending using the international COICOP classification. Division 08, which it labels Information and Communication, is broad: it covers information and communication equipment (including mobile phones and computers), software, and information and communication services (telephone and internet), and also items such as audiovisual equipment and related services. It is not a single product, and it is wider than just phones and data plans. As a whole basket it is lower in August 2026 than it was in 2010.
A note on the classification, because it matters
DOSM has revised its CPI classification over this period, and Division 08 today is broader than the old Communication group. This comparison does not splice two different definitions together. DOSM publishes the CPI as a single continuous series in which the current thirteen divisions extend back decades, so the January 2010 and August 2026 figures for Information and Communication are drawn on the same current basis. Division 13, a category that only exists under the newer classification, itself carries values back to 2003 in the same published series. We use DOSM's own continuous series as published, unchanged.
When the fall happened
The decline is not a straight line and it is mostly recent. The Information and Communication index barely moved for over a decade, reading 100.3 in January 2010 and still 96.1 at the start of 2023. It then fell sharply from late 2024, reaching a low of 88.4 in July 2025, before recovering to 91.4 by August 2026. So the honest description is a category that held roughly flat for a decade, then dropped, and in August 2026 sits 8.9 per cent below where it started. We are not claiming a cause for the recent drop, only reporting when it happened.
What this is, and is not
These are index numbers, the average price level of a whole category, not the shelf price of any single phone or plan. A category index falling does not mean every product in it got cheaper, and a flagship launch can still cost more than its predecessor while the category average falls. A national average also does not describe any one household's spending. What it shows is the overall direction of DOSM's information and communication basket, and that direction is down.
How to check this yourself
Every number here is public and reproducible. Download the Consumer Price Index by division (dataset cpi_headline) from data.gov.my, take the index value for each division at January 2010 and August 2026, and compute the percentage change. We retrieved the series on 28 September 2026; DOSM updates and may revise it monthly. We did nothing to it that you cannot redo in a spreadsheet.
The point is not that technology in Malaysia is cheap. It is that, in a country where almost every cost of living has climbed since 2010, the biggest faller of all is the basket that puts a phone in your hand and the internet on it.
