People buying an iPhone can be considered pretty well off economically: Study

Do you own an iPhone? Then as per a study, you are quite likely to be well off. Obviously, this isn’t applicable to everyone, but it would seem that owning an iPhone is the best indicator of having a “high income”. On some levels, this does make sense. You won’t be shelling out Rs 1 lakh on a phone if you were not earning in accordance. [caption id=“attachment_4675661” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Apple iPhone X in Silver. Image: tech2/Rehan Hooda[/caption] The study was conducted by the University of Chicago which teamed up with the National Bureau of Economic Research to find out how our lifestyle choices showcase our income levels. The study said that 20 years back in the US, having a posh mustard was an indicator of having a higher income. Oh, how the times have changed. Interestingly something to note here is that Android phones are not coming in cheap as well. The recently announced  Oppo Find X happens to retail at 999 euros and the **Huawei P20 Pro** also had a similar price tag. But it is most likely the massive brand name that Apple comes with which has made it a big factor in the study. However, just to be clear, the study does not mention the ownership of an iPhone X to be classified as well-off. As a matter of fact, the study does not mention the iPhone X even though it is the costliest commercial iPhone made to date. The study said “Across all years in our data, no individual brand is as predictive of being high-income as owning an Apple iPhone in 2016. We measure cultural distance between two groups as the ability to infer an individual’s group based on his or her (i) media consumption, (ii) consumer behaviour, (iii) time use, or (iv) social attitudes.” In any case, the sample size of this study only pertains to the income standards in the US. But even for the budget-smartphone dominated country like India, owning Apple products looks is big indicator of economic prosperity.