I agree with your comment, and I believe that these status symbols —fake or not— make people unhappy.
However, I’ll like to point out a few things.
When you say “western cultures”, you mean the US and Europe; Latin America is also part of the western culture but the situation is different. In the US the iPhone is not a status symbol, because even with a low wage you’ll be able to easily get one with a cellphone contract.
But, I don’t think that first world people is “moving past” status symbols, they have others: Food, what you eat tells a lot about your status — you can see that all the time in the Bay Area. College, where you got your degree is another symbol of status. Hobbies, the more expensive —or extravagant— the better.
A beautifully naive and disconnected perspective. Why do you think Instagram or Snapchat or even Facebook are so popular? A good part of it is to show off conspicuous consumption.
If anything, now that they can afford it a bit more, people are even more vain.
Citation needed. So far from my point of observation the desire to obtain prestige items, get prestige credentials and live in prestige places has not subsided substantially.
The issue of using fake merch to show-off your status is that others will eventually catch up. Once every second person will have a fake expensive-looking phone, for example, it will lose its meaning. The rich and successful will find other ways to differentiate themselves. And I don't believe that owning a fake phone is going to make you successful. Being successful is a mindset.