[minthd]

Actually ,people in the end do pay more, but it's subtle.

Say you we're a customer that bought an iPhone every 2 years.

Now Apple's yearly plan looks like:

1. A new iPhone every year + Apple care

2. Same price

3. Don't have to deal with salesman at carrier store.

So more people will be tricked for new iPhone every year.

And once this becomes the standard , since Apple is a status symbol - suddenly buying a phone every 2 years carries less status.

[ghshephard]

"Apple is a status symbol" - I wonder where in the world that is true. Certainly not the case for Canada/US/Singapore - an iPhone is just another smart phone.

[analog31]

Just an anecdatum, for amusement: My kids seem to know which kids at school have an iPhone. But they think that Samsung makes a better phone. This is without them having first hand knowledge of either.

Also, my impression from conversations with them over the years: The kids who were the youngest when they got cell phones, e.g., fifth grade or younger, got iPhones.

[pinaceae]

any data to back up your claim?

talked to kids and minors? hipsters and millenials? people that do all their computing on their phones? the multitude of people that watch apple keynotes, youtube product reviews, etc?

anything besides your gut feeling?

[ghshephard]

You are right - it's all gut feeling, but one that's educated based on experience. I've been in Singapore since 2013. I carry my smartphone, visibly, in all sorts of social, work, and other scenarios - and not a single time in 2 years, has anyone even looked twice at it - even when new. Also, people aren't really into iPhones here - this is really a Samsung City.

Smartphones are so saturated in this city, with close to 90%+ of people glued to them on the MRT, that absolutely nobody pays any attention to what model somebody is using.

This is totally unlike what my experience was like in the Bay Area, 2009-2011, in which every time I picked up a new iPhone, everyone (Restaurants, work, friends) was all over the new phone, asking to check it out, see how light it was, etc, etc...

Now it's just a rectangular hunk of glass.

Your basic question, though, is a good one - how the iPhone / Galaxy / etc.. is seen as a status symbol, and how that might have changed over time.

[donut2d]

Everything you wrote could have been said about the comment saying that it is a status symbol.

[pinaceae]

but maybe there is data to prove that smartphones are no longer status symbols. benefit of doubt.

[andrepd]

It certainly is the case in many places in the world. Just look at Apple marketing and the "premium" branding they emphasize on all their products.