Originally Posted By: fdcg27
This is unsurprising even if hard to believe.
For a lot of hip urbanites, especially younger ones, an expensive new handset is the status symbol of choice.
A cool phone is a way of trying to tell the world that you're hip and prosperous, even if you still live in mom's basement.
A hip new phone is also a lot cheaper than any sort of new car or even a running used one, even if it is also a whole lot less useful.
Status in a car requires at least an old BMW or Benz, which will run you some multiple of a grand and will also require possibly costly repairs and maintenance, which young folks don't seem too much inclined to DIY.
Status in a phone requires only a grand and will require nothing in the way of maintenance or repair unless you drop it on a hard surface and shatter the screen.
I've seen a few young and probably impecunious folks do this with expensive handsets and I cringed for them.
Those who want to advertise to the world at large that they have a 1K phone should do so, secure in the knowledge that all of those potential thieves are well aware of its value, like addicts in need of a fix and lacking the technical ability to steal a car who will think nothing of knocking you down and grabbing your phone and then running off.
Don't forget that $1000 handset is about $41.66 a month over a standard 24 month contract. Apple actually isn't as bad as Samsung, an S7 Edge which was the top of the line phone last year and in the $700-$800 range now sells for about $275 used a year later. Apple 7 pluses are probably still in the $500-550 range and they started at about the same price as the Samsung.