I think this is a misplaced worry. If you’re a high quality engineer than you shouldn’t compete on price. I do some freelance work but and have found it to be extremely lucrative. (Not in the mobile space though FWIW. Mostly NLP projects) You have to find a niche and provide a ton of value. Being an IOS developer that just delivers features is one way to sell yourself. A better way be positioning yourself is as an IOS expert that knows intricacies which will save the customer $10,000’s in costs via lower maintenance costs, faster dev time, etc

I'm one of those "developers in other countries". I wish it were that easy. I have an elite degree (global top 30 college in CS), but I've still been undercut by Americans.

The real problem is that a lot of people are willing to work for nearly free just to play with a new technology, and some are doing it to build a reputation and get reviews.