>Why would people want to have an iPhone for only a week?

Indian culture is about display of wealth. Wealthy individuals are respected and get access to inner clubs while the people who don't have much don't get invited anywhere.

College students might want to leave a good impression at a party and might get an iPhone so people start taking them seriously.

Similarly, a guy might get an iPhone so his date considers him important.

iPhone is status symbol in India because not everyone can afford it.

I can certainly and easily afford it but I am still using android because I don't feel the need of uncessarry attention

^ Indian culture

Every culture

Not really in some cultures talking about money and displaying wealth is not considered good and people look down on this behaviour.

Germany is such culture and it still happens with accessories and clothing.

Apple is at the centre of this. You see people who obviously can't afford it with those (probably) fake AirPods all over the place. Sometimes they're not even connected. It's THE "look at me, I can afford it" electronics brand display for the middle and lower class.

I knew of a guy who "bought" Apple Laptops from Amazon and used it as his DJ laptop and worked some gigs where the Apple laptop was a status symbol of how big a deal he is. He used to perform in small town and rural India and organizers paid him ₹3k-30k per night. He returned his laptop after doing 3-4 such gigs in the "marriage season" in India. He did this 7-8 times from different addresses and different accounts.

After 21 gigs (3 gigs * 7 laptops) he would've made around 21k USD (presuming he was making at least 10k rupees per night, which between 3k-30k would've made sense). Seems like at that point you just buy the darn laptop, it's not like you need something more than an Air for DJing, and 1/21th of your revenue to be legal seems like not a bad idea.

You’re missing the point. Why buy something if you don’t have to? That’s the reasoning here. You don’t spend money, your product doesn’t depreciate, you always have a brand new product. You only have to deal with your guilt and ethics or lack thereof.

He is a scammer. He had no DJ training either. To most people living in rural India, "DJ" is just loud beats added to an existing song and abruptly cutting them and playing another one. He is not a real DJ, and he had bills to pay.

No, he mostly got paid ₹3-₹4k per night. Purchasing power of rural India is very low.

I think part of the point was he always had the current model.

30k/night is about $400 - that’s decent enough money to afford to buy a fully-loaded MacBook Pro after only a handful of gigs.

If you're living gig to gig, spending the earnings from a couple may not be an option. Doesn't justify what's being done, I'm just arguing against this single argument.

Not if you have bills to pay.

Only if someone else pays for your living expenses.

Maybe it's a status symbol thing. Rent a designer electronic for an important meeting or a date or something to look good. Return it afterwards and get your money back.

Not a bad business idea!

People have more time than money.

If you had a Star Trek replicator in your home that could replicate a brand new iPhone for you for free that lasts a week then poofs out of existence, you'd go ahead and use it, probably more than once.

If you don't mind the hassle and the ethical, er, annoyance of going to a store, waiting in queues, having $1000+ temporarily blocked off from your savings, a bunch of back and forth with the sales people, etc, then that's equivalent to replicating yourself an iPhone for a week for free.

In India returns are almost always picked up from your home. No need to print labels or package it.

On the other hand, In the US, more often than not, you have to pack up your item and drop it off to a store to return it.

This has helped e-commerce grow significantly in India just because people are busy and getting around is always a chore (especially with brands like Nykaa, Myntra, and Ajio)

This model would work great to bring more developing countries on board with e-commerce

Agreed, also the traffic in Indian metros like Delhi and Bangalore (and increasingly smaller metros like Jaipur) is horrible. That has certainly helped local e-commerce brands like Myntra and Ajio grow.

It's interesting how these clothing retailers still offer a very customer friendly return policy compared to electronics retailers like Amazon or Apple.

YouTube product reviews! People try to copy MKBHD, but as they don't get free products from Apple unlike Marques they buy them for a week.

I feel most non-MKBHD reviewers do this everywhere else too.

Maybe they wanted to flex on social media? People do weird things for "clout".

As status symbols.

Many people also abuse return policies to buy expensive cameras, use them to shoot nice pictures on vacation and then sending them back. They can still keep the pictures, so the camera lost its value for them.

If I were to wager as to the single most common type of fraud of this type, I would guess it is women "buying" a dress with the intent to wear it once and return it.

This is also why the terms on rental cars can get very specific.

I don't blame them, it is shocking how much dresses cost. As a man, a well-tailored suit will last me a decade, waistline permitting. Nobody will ever say, 'Uh, you're wearing that suit AGAIN?' The rest of the time a simple blazer and button down shirt will do the job.

I mentioned it because it seems the most socially acceptable and common example of this kind of behavior.

Now that I think of it, the "eat the steak then complain" tactic is probably the most common that's in this ballpark.

Personally, I do judge the people I've seen do this. They are self-centered and all did it for social reasons. If someone did it for a job interview I might understand, but invariably it was to have something they didn't want to pay for.

They know a lot of places will let you rent right?

With bulletproof insurance and the right accessories.

They also know free is cheaper than rent.

Unless you are trying new iPhone every week ;)

Same reason people do the same thing with clothes.

And what would that be?

wearing it for some special occasion like a date or meeting and then returning it, so that's why it doesn't work in low income countries

Ah makes sense now. Similar to people buying tv’s for the Super Bowl and then return it. Just never thought of that with phones.

Random guess? Low/very low income folks, wanting a status symbol they can't afford.