Almost anyone can afford an iPhone. All four major carriers and Apple offer no interest payment plans. Spread over 24 months, the difference between an iPhone and an Android phone is negligible.

If having an iPhone is a symbol of “affluence”, half of the US is affluent.

Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t jibe with broader statistics.

Edit: For complete transparency, I am seeing ranges from 42% - 50% market share in the US depending on the site.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/236550/percentage-of-us-...

> If having an iPhone is a symbol of “affluence”, half of the US is affluent.

I mean, it's probably the richer half that owns iPhones, so it's consistent with what you said.

Correct, the US is the richest country on earth. In the rest of the world Androids are more popular.

I guarantee you that if most of your friends have iPhones, your friends' incomes are probably on the higher end, statistically.

Don't those payment plans require good credit, anyway? A lot of my friends don't have that.

Not “good credit” just “not horrible credit”.

But, after you have been a customer for awhile for a carrier, they take your on time bill payments with them into account - at least with T-mobile.

https://www.t-mobile.com/customers/smartphone-equality-progr...

Many of my less well-off friends have horrible credit, unfortunately.

Good for T-Mobile.