Hacker News Reader

Comment by ar_lan | Hacker News Reader

Is iPhone still viewed as a status symbol?

Genuine question - maybe I'm too in my own bubble but it seems like iPhone just completely dominates the market and is viewed as the "default" phone, which to me implies status quo, not luxury.

View on HN

> maybe I'm too in my own bubble

Is it a green bubble or a blue bubble? :)

The Pro is still seen by some as a "flex" by some, visibly having all three lenses. The Air is likely just a more visible flex, thus it will probably sell well.

I'm an Australian in my 40's almost everyone in my immediate circle (family, friends, work-peers) has an Android, at least in my world iPhone is a minority.

I grew up with Nokia phones all I want out of my phone is something cheap and rugged with a decent battery life.

> I'm an Australian in my 40's almost everyone in my immediate circle (family, friends, work-peers) has an Android, at least in my world iPhone is a minority.

It's very particular to your group I think as I am in the same country, similar age, and yet it's the complete opposite for me.

But none of us care because it's not the US and nobody is using some phone exclusive messaging service enough to care about what phone anyone else is using.

You are in a bubble: the anglosphere. In most of the world, the iPhone does not dominate the market.

Yeah but not because people can't afford it.

Uh? I live in a first world country (Spain) and the minimum wage is lower than the base iPhone Air price.

Of course a lot of people can not afford it.

There are many things that are expensive that are nevertheless not particularly seen as “status symbols”, in the sense of commonly used to publicly display one’s status/wealth/whatever.

Well, I can tell you that in my country, a significant portion of the population sees it as a status symbol.

USA minimum wage isn't much higher than iPhone Air price.

$7.25/hour = $1,160/month for 8 hours of daily work, monday to friday.

iPhone Air costs $1000 according to https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare

Americans don't earn the minimum wage. You're talking about less than 1/2 of 1% of the working population. It's a nearly worthless metric (other than as a political reference to how long it has been since the minimum wage has been increased and how far behind the median it is).

it’s just another of the many many comments in this thread where people throw out statistics to make a point, but those statistics are typically detached from reality or not even focused on the main topic of the conversation.

I replaced my old iPhone XR with a brand new 16 this year, not because anything was wrong with it (even the battery was OK), but I wanted to see what the changes brought.

I was quite surprised that other than the much better battery, USB-C, and much better camera, and sometimes faster speed, the old one was holding up quite well.

You can get an old iPhone XR for 100 EURish, in decent condition. I really have no idea what model year iPhone's others have.

Japan, Taiwan and the Nordic countries have higher iPhone market share than the Anglosphere IIRC.

That's precisely why people need a phone focused on design and engineering to stand out.

> Is iPhone still viewed as a status symbol?

In wealthy circles, no. Anywhere else, yes, it’s a thousand-dollar device.

I mean literally half the people I know under the age of 25 have iPhones in my country. How can it be a status symbol when it’s the default phone for most people?

In the end it's the same thing, but in many countries where iPhones are popular, it's more of the "anti status symbol" effect happening. An iPhone is not a status symbol anymore per se, however NOT having one is the thing that gives you a "lower" status.

There’s status in not being one of the android paupers.

Yes, only by people who own an iPhone. It's a special kind of bubble.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com