Why do iphone users still see their phones as a status symbol
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Especially teens and college students
Source: i'm a college student
wrote last edited by [email protected]Nobody will actually mind if you brag about how you bought a new phone. Also if you are not a rich person you having an expensive phone means you did something smart to "cheat the system."
As an example I had an old coworker when I used to work at a warehouse and he would combo things like service provider sales to buy an iphone.
He did sound smart when explaining the roundabout way he got the phone despite making same money as us. And I don't mind what other people chose to spend money on.
What I do mind is college students thinking macbooks are some "programmers' laptops."
I had to constantly hand-hold group members that think they can get away with not learning how to code and using AI for all the homeworks because they bought a mac and that makes them a good programmer anyway.
"But I thought the program should automatically wait for the threads on this line since it's POSIX."
Yes I love troubleshooting professor's makefile for an OS I don't have because you never learned your own laptop has a symlink from gcc to clang.
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As a person with a nice income, an iPhone is a device that‘ll get security updates for 5-6 years. Meaning that I can just put away 30 bucks a month and get the replacement immediately. On Android I had to get a new one every 2-3 years to get consistent security updates. I switched to an iPhone X when it came out, now I have a 14 Pro and don’t to plan to get a new one anytime soon.
What? Samsung guarantees 7 years of security updates for most phones. Google does the same.
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That's an interesting way of looking at it. Don't you think there's a human nature that's not strictly learned? It seems to me that history repeats way more than it should if we were that good at changing.
Like, obviously, there's variance at the individual level, but it seems like the population as a whole has striking similarities, regardless of where you travel or what era in history you're reading about.
While there are numerous examples of such philosophies and cultures around the globe
Dovetailing into that, a philosophy is not a culture. Philosophies at best sightly influence cultures, as actually practiced, and even that is overblown. Since this is Lemmy, I'll use the example of how well Western Christians follow teachings about not being greedy or whatever. Other cultures have similar facets.
I use "philosophy" to mean one's individual, personal relationship with reality: how they choose to interact with the world around them. I understand this is a somewhat atypical use. There is probably a better word for that concept. It eludes me at this time.
As I used the term, "Christian teachings" (etc.) would only qualify as a philosophy if the individual actually adheres to those tenets. If not, those teachings are just a work of fiction.
There certainly are "striking similarities" throughout the the populace and time. My point is that we don't need to accept, excuse, explain, or tolerate those widespread behaviors simply because they are widespread. As I see it, "Human nature" is a slightly more egalitarian synonym for "boys will be boys".
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As a person with a nice income, an iPhone is a device that‘ll get security updates for 5-6 years. Meaning that I can just put away 30 bucks a month and get the replacement immediately. On Android I had to get a new one every 2-3 years to get consistent security updates. I switched to an iPhone X when it came out, now I have a 14 Pro and don’t to plan to get a new one anytime soon.
I think this comment highlights just why people still think iPhones are a status symbol. They don't know any better or even anything of the market but they are sure confident about it.
IPhone will get 5-6 years of updates, but Android phones from Google, Samsung, and some others will get 7 6 years. Somehow that means the iPhone is better?
What next, they will claim that iPhone is private and Apple doesn't spy on everything they do to sell them ads? Something that if they read Apple's privacy policy quickly would find out is also wrong. Or then claim it is somehow more private that Android which can actually block most of the adware spying with apps like DuckDuckGo which are officially on the Play Store?
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I use "philosophy" to mean one's individual, personal relationship with reality: how they choose to interact with the world around them. I understand this is a somewhat atypical use. There is probably a better word for that concept. It eludes me at this time.
As I used the term, "Christian teachings" (etc.) would only qualify as a philosophy if the individual actually adheres to those tenets. If not, those teachings are just a work of fiction.
There certainly are "striking similarities" throughout the the populace and time. My point is that we don't need to accept, excuse, explain, or tolerate those widespread behaviors simply because they are widespread. As I see it, "Human nature" is a slightly more egalitarian synonym for "boys will be boys".
wrote last edited by [email protected]I'm not saying this is okay either, but it's the way the world is, isn't it? Humanity isn't doing a great job overall, at least in an absolute sense, and part of that is that adults absolutely do buy stupid status symbols to flex on each other.
I think explaining is a very worthy pursuit. As for tolerating, I'm not actually in charge, so I don't have a choice!
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Especially teens and college students
Source: i'm a college student
If there was another decent mobile phone, the same size as the SE, I would seriously consider it.
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Wait people really give a shit? Never seen or heard about that
Source: I’m also a college student
Nope - no one gives a shit what phone you have. Maybe I’m just old but I haven’t heard this from literally anyone or anywhere.
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Especially teens and college students
Source: i'm a college student
Some people need to justify their choice to overspend on something...
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I think this comment highlights just why people still think iPhones are a status symbol. They don't know any better or even anything of the market but they are sure confident about it.
IPhone will get 5-6 years of updates, but Android phones from Google, Samsung, and some others will get 7 6 years. Somehow that means the iPhone is better?
What next, they will claim that iPhone is private and Apple doesn't spy on everything they do to sell them ads? Something that if they read Apple's privacy policy quickly would find out is also wrong. Or then claim it is somehow more private that Android which can actually block most of the adware spying with apps like DuckDuckGo which are officially on the Play Store?
I recently got a Pixel 9, really hoping it will last the full 7 years
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I have never ever ever encountered a single person who treated their iPhone as a status symbol.
you definitely have, they probably just didn't mention it to you specifically
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They don't. You do.
wrote last edited by [email protected]explain how the people who always have the newest iPhone and show it off to all their friends DONT think it's a status symbol
better yet explain how, I, the person with a several year old android phone who HATES apple considers an iphone more important than they do
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I'm not saying this is okay either, but it's the way the world is, isn't it? Humanity isn't doing a great job overall, at least in an absolute sense, and part of that is that adults absolutely do buy stupid status symbols to flex on each other.
I think explaining is a very worthy pursuit. As for tolerating, I'm not actually in charge, so I don't have a choice!
and part of that is that adults absolutely do buy stupid status symbols to flex on each other.
Exactly. And when they do, we don't say "Well, that's just what humanity does".
We say "Despise these covetous pricks".
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What? Samsung guarantees 7 years of security updates for most phones. Google does the same.
That's relatively new, they probably haven't looked in a while.
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Kids are like that. Most adults don’t care.
It is still cliqueish even if they don't do it intentionally when you have things like they assume you have apple things like the iPhone charger( deprecated now) or airdrop.
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What? Samsung guarantees 7 years of security updates for most phones. Google does the same.
Since when do they do this? I switched in 2017 and back then 3 years was a luxury.
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I‘m the tech guy most people ask for help. If they want a new phone, my first question is for how long it should last and what their price range is - then I mostly suggest an iPhone. You get 5-6 years of support for $600, while Android you need to pay that every 1-2 years.
Incorrect. A Samsung Galaxy A16 (USD $200) has 6 years of security updates.
Since when does Samsung do that? I switched back in 2017 and haven’t been interested in the mobile phone market since the Galaxy fold 2
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Since when does Samsung do that? I switched back in 2017 and haven’t been interested in the mobile phone market since the Galaxy fold 2
The Galaxy A12 was released in 2020, it had 4 years of updates, Galaxy A15 released in 2023, had 5 years of updates, Galaxy A16 released in late 2024 (for the US, it was early 2025), now has 6 years of updates. S-Series phones (most of those cost $550 and above) have 7 years of updates)
It's just security updates tho, new features are not guaranteed for budget phones (like no "AI" features for A-series phones, but then again, its just more marketing gimmics anyways, who really uses those?), but its secure enough for banking.
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I think this comment highlights just why people still think iPhones are a status symbol. They don't know any better or even anything of the market but they are sure confident about it.
IPhone will get 5-6 years of updates, but Android phones from Google, Samsung, and some others will get 7 6 years. Somehow that means the iPhone is better?
What next, they will claim that iPhone is private and Apple doesn't spy on everything they do to sell them ads? Something that if they read Apple's privacy policy quickly would find out is also wrong. Or then claim it is somehow more private that Android which can actually block most of the adware spying with apps like DuckDuckGo which are officially on the Play Store?
The user had outdated information regarding the security updates. That was true around 2015, but in 2025 its not the case anymore, they just never got updated on the new info because they already jumped ship to Apple.
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The Galaxy A12 was released in 2020, it had 4 years of updates, Galaxy A15 released in 2023, had 5 years of updates, Galaxy A16 released in late 2024 (for the US, it was early 2025), now has 6 years of updates. S-Series phones (most of those cost $550 and above) have 7 years of updates)
It's just security updates tho, new features are not guaranteed for budget phones (like no "AI" features for A-series phones, but then again, its just more marketing gimmics anyways, who really uses those?), but its secure enough for banking.
The people who come to me only care about their pictures. It is I who has to make sure that those who click on every link they receive and open everything attached are unable to fuck something up.
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As a person with a nice income, an iPhone is a device that‘ll get security updates for 5-6 years. Meaning that I can just put away 30 bucks a month and get the replacement immediately. On Android I had to get a new one every 2-3 years to get consistent security updates. I switched to an iPhone X when it came out, now I have a 14 Pro and don’t to plan to get a new one anytime soon.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Samsung gives 7 years. Google gives 7 years as well. Your information is outdated.
