I think you're anchoring to the idea that Apple produces Veblen goods, and trying to work backwards from there.

The more straightforward explanation is that Apple just wants to make it easy to buy on credit.

I disagree that Apple products are Veblen goods in the same way that, say, Prada products are.

This meme about Apple products deriving most of their demand from being status symbols is a decade or two out of date. For many years, iPhones have had comparable tech specs and pricing to competing flagship smartphones. Also, even if they are status symbols to some extent, they almost certainly are not Veblen goods. Do you think Apple would sell fewer iPhones if they dropped the price of every model by 25%? No way.

> This meme about Apple products deriving most of their demand from being status symbols is a decade or two out of date.

Both of you are arguing on which side of an ideal abstraction (Veblen goods) Apple is. Seems silly to me.

Apple products ARE status symbols in many countries, that's what most of the Chinese market is for Apple presently.

They're also playing as utilitarian tech products with mass appeal. Apple has always had this hybrid strategy, it's not one OR the other.

A quick look at their profit margins vs. the competition will show that they're marking up their products significantly above the competition. And I mean in profit margin specifically, so that we don't have this argument about whether they have more expensive software and hardware in principle (they do, but most of it is profit margin).

And also sorry but this is a $15 battery sold for $99, even as an Apple user they're losing me here. Some of their accessories are literally for people who want to spend money on Apple shit.

> For many years, iPhones have had comparable tech specs and pricing to competing flagship smartphones

Yet the prices almost double.

No, certainly not.

Apple products are not Veblen goods. They are primarily bought for their utility.

The wikipedia page for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good is interesting. It talks about wastefulness, but then excludes "ethical goods" from consideration as being wasteful. Apparently we are never allowed to ask whether a cottage farm in Portland is wasteful compared to an efficient mechanized farm. Only intent matters.

Apple's brand is affordable luxury, as such, they aren't marketing themselves as a purveyor of Veblen goods.

Whether you buy into the marketing or not, the pitch is this: the latest iPhone is the best phone in the world, and if you can make the monthly payment, you can have it. It's like Warhol's observation about Coke: you can't pay more for a better iPhone, even if you're a prince or a celebrity.

You can pay extra for exactly two things: storage, which is invisible, or a red one.

Apple does make a few products which appear to exist to anchor the "luxury" part of this branding, such as a $999 monitor stand, or the AirPods Max, Hermes-branded Apple Watches and so on.

But their bread and butter is affordable luxury.

> There are 4 messages about being able to buy this on credit/monthly payments.

I'm guessing it's also a US-specific thing. The MagSafe battery pack listings for non-US stores don't have this:

UK: https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MJWY3ZM/A/magsafe-batt...

Singapore: https://www.apple.com/sg/shop/product/MJWY3ZA/A/magsafe-batt...

Monthly (3mo) payment offered in JP https://www.apple.com/jp/shop/product/MJWY3ZA/A/magsafe%E3%8...

iOS has 60% market share in the US, which is also the percentage of people who could scrape together $1,000 in an emergency: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/11/just-39percent-of-americans-... .

iPhones are not simply Veblen goods like Hermes handbags (although there might be that element to them), they are also in many ways the best smartphone you can buy, for lots of different reasons. I buy all of my clothes at Costco and I have an iPhone. It is a mainstream product targeting mainstream Americans, many of whom consume on credit.

I think the messaging is to encourage people to open an Apple Card account

Are you really shocked that given Apple's massive market penetration, they have enough customers in lower socioeconomic brackets that financing options are a viable revenue stream?

I feel like this wealth concept is a bit dated, have you seen the news the last month.

For the ultra wealthy, their lives are completely dependent on loans and debt.

It's $99, I wouldn't say it's for 'the wealthy'.

Considering it's only accessory to a $1000+ device, it seems like it isn't really for poor people, either.

My friend paints houses 4 days a week average for $25/h. No fancy stuff just wall painting.

He's always packing the latest iPhone Pro.

If iPhones are a status symbol, I'm not sure to whom.

Well above the $7.25/hr minimum wage then, and still above the $15-20 estimated average hourly wage for US workers.

So iPhones are a status symbol for people like your friend, who are making more money than the average citizen, if that clears it up for you.

1. Hardly anyone in the US pays for their phone outright. It’s a combination of interest free payment plans and subsidies/rebates

2. The iPhone 12 mini is $699

3. Half of the US is not “rich”. But somehow they manage to have iPhones.

The iPhone 12 starts at $699.

My mistake, I’m thinking in CAD and the starting price is $979.

To me that still seems like a lot of money.

The iPhone 12 starts at $729. You get a $30 rebate if you sign up for a new phone plan.

It's like 12x the price per energy unit compared to other 3rd party battery packs from high quality brands like Anker.