[coldtea]

Obviously income. Are you in the upper 20% that does great (or still fine), or in the 80% that's increasingly scrapping by?

[mrob]

Except income is no longer bimodal. It was back in the 70s, but now there's just a single peak. See:

https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2013/12/Global-inequality...

However, growth in income is bimodal:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Global_changes_in_re...

Could that affect the phone market indirectly, by consumer confidence? It's possible, but it's not nearly as clear-cut as human height.

[coldtea]

Also account for wealth (we don't make the distinction between income and wealth much in my here parts).

[jnwatson]

The interesting part about IPhones in particular is that they are status symbols. I've seen plenty of working class folks, especially women, flaunting IPhones.

I'm sure part of the reason is that since most carriers (and Apple itself) will finance the phone cheaply, so the practical difference between the cheapest and most expensive phone is $30 a month.