Source: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE / Getty
iPhone and iPad owners already put themselves in the upper echelon when it comes to smartphone ownership. A new study suggests that owning either one of those Apple products means that you’re rich. Economists from the University of Chicago point out that Apple’s iPhone is the most reliable indicator when it comes to determining if a person is rich stating “no individual brand is as predictive of being high-income as owning an Apple iPhone.”
Don’t worry U.S. Android owners you are also considered wealthy as well, and if you happen to use Verizon’s phone service, you make that list as well.
Most iPhone users reading this probably are laughing while reading this but according to the researchers, knowing if someone owns the smartphone gives them a 69% chance to guess correctly that the owner is “high-income.” Now when they say “high-income” that means the owner belongs to the top quartile of household incomes. How did they come to this exciting conclusion you ask? Researchers used data from Mediamark Research Intelligence which supplied them with a sample size of 6,394. The data used by the researchers included bi-annual questions as well as info on the participants household income gathered from face-to-face-interviews.
A machine learning algorithm was also used by the researches to help observe different groups and how their preferences changed over time. With the help of the machine learning algorithm, they determined that “cultural differences” are not growing when it comes to brands that people are familiar with.
Another factor that played a vital role in the study was the price of the newer generation of iPhones. The iPhone X and 8 are both very pricey no matter how the customer decides to pay for it. Despite payment plans that sell the idea of affordability to potential customers you still wind up paying a grip for the phone in the long run.
This latest study puts the iPhone in the company with other brands such as Grey Poupon, Kikkoman soy sauce, and Land O’Lakes butter which were associated with were also associated with being rich. This is a fascinating study being that running gag of people always saying you are swimming in the dough for owning the latest iPhones. Do you agree? iPhone owners do you feel like you are in the “high-income” bracket?
[h/t BGR]
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Photo: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE / Getty
