New Research Shows That Owning an iPhone Is the Most Common Sign of Wealth

Megalith

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A new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research is laying claim to the iPhone being the most common status symbol of wealth. If someone owns one, there is a 69.1 percent chance that they are “high income,” say University of Chicago economists Marianne Bertrand and Emir Kamenica, who compiled the report.

The researchers describe high-income as “being in the top quartile of income for households of that type.” Owning an iPad can also be a good indicator of wealth according to the research, though to a slightly lesser extent at 66.9 percent. Owning an Android phone gives the researchers a 59.5 percent chance of correctly predicting wealth status.
 
Pretty sure this article is just written to get people talking about a bullshit topic.

I can walk into any cellphone provider now and sign a contract and get an iPhone for $0. That's not a sign of wealth in North American society.

I've seen homeless, jobless, people with good phones, including iPhones. That alone debunks this garbage.
 
i think Apple products now are for shallow ppl mostly, ppl who are easily manipulated by the illusion that expensive things are superior, that displaying them adds prestige to them, it's honestly sad when i see a guy on the subway rocking the earpods and his iphoneX, while his whole outfit screams minimum wage job.
also what's up with black ppl, it's like they moved from sneakers to apple, almost every black guy i know uses apple exclusively, macs and iphone.
 
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also what's up with black ppl, it's like they moved from snickers to apple, almost every black guy i know uses apple exclusively, macs and iphone.

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..... ?

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Well, someone's income shouldn't determine that. Their service should.
^Exactly
I tip owners/managers the same as I tip the help. And most of the owners/managers I know let the tips rollover to the next employee, making it a joy for the average employee to follow them on a slow day.
 
Pretty sure this article is just written to get people talking about a bullshit topic.

I can walk into any cellphone provider now and sign a contract and get an iPhone for $0. That's not a sign of wealth in North American society.

I've seen homeless, jobless, people with good phones, including iPhones. That alone debunks this garbage.
it's basically saying that most wealthy people have an iPhone.
I am probably the poorest person on this forum, but I happen to own an iPhone SE, which is the poor mans iPhone..
 
Most people just buy the brand with the best marketing + design combo
If that were true then they couldn't sell an iphone at all. I don't remember the time when I saw an iphone ad the last time. If I even saw one at all. And we know how shoddy* their designs are, at least from a technical standpoint.

*oh I'm sorry, what I meant to say is brave!
 
From my experience, that seems true. But, I also use this metric to determine how stupid the person is. After all, who's dumb enough to buy an over priced phone that many cheaper phones can do better?
 
If that were true then they couldn't sell an iphone at all. I don't remember the time when I saw an iphone ad the last time. If I even saw one at all. And we know how shoddy* their designs are, at least from a technical standpoint.

*oh I'm sorry, what I meant to say is brave!

Ads are just a tiny bit in the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing.
 
So wanting consistent security updates is a sign of wealth.

Nice
 
If this article were written between 2007-2010, I would have fully agreed.
In fact, anyone in those years with any smartphone would have been considered as such since smartphones were more of a luxury back then due to their higher costs.

But in 2018? Seriously?
 
I am pretty sure phones have become MORE expensive in the years not cheaper.

Additionally, the research paper says it's only a 69% chance. That's pretty close to a 50/50 shot that the person is "wealthy" but it doesn't exactly define wealthy so who knows what amount of income you need to be considered wealthy.
 
that, and Rolex watches


If this article were written between 2007-2010, I would have fully agreed.
In fact, anyone in those years with any smartphone would have been considered as such since smartphones were more of a luxury back then due to their higher costs.

But in 2018? Seriously?

yea, seriously ... like a $1000 iphone and for what? A camera with higher pixel specs?

The kiddies will sell more drugs just to have one and adults will do whatever they do to get the money but I personally don't know anyone who can afford to spend $1k on a cell phone that's really no better than a Galaxy from last year that sold for $70 New

IMO it's more often than not extravagance to buy a $1k cell phone, done purely to impress others or be prideful that you own one and others don't
 
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I don't own an iPhone, but my personal assistant does. Will that qualify? I also make her walk three steps behind me because I use an Android phone and Apple simply reeks of nanny state over-protectiveness.
 
I'm broke as FUCK, don't even have a job right now, and I have a 64GB iPhone 6S just sitting on my desk unused. I guess I'm doing pretty well for myself, eh?
 
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...I don't remember the time when I saw an iphone ad the last time. ...


May not be now. But when the iphone 8 and X were introduced, there're tons of Apple iphone ads. And if you watched any World Cup broadcast, every 15 minutes or so there's an Apple ad. It's so annoying. It got so irritating that I just turned off the sound when the Apple ads were on.
 
There's probably a bigger correlation with iPhone ownership between technical & nontechnical users.

# one reason lower paid employees give me for buying another iPhone, is that they don't want to switch since they already know how to use an iPhone and don't want to have to learn how to use something different.

As for iPhone users around my office, we have the owner at the top, maybe 25% of the technical staff, 100% of the marketing department, less than half the sales department and operations staff.

Since most the technical staff uses Android, and they generally make more than most other employees, I'm pretty sure the opposite is true in my sample.
I'm pretty at my office, the average Android user makes more than the average iPhone user.
 
You know what, this is like saying those who like chocolate versus vanilla ice cream are 60% wealthier than the latter.
 
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