How to Get a $1,990 Discount on Social Status

Apple just announced the newest iteration of the iPhone. It is called the iPhone Duo, and its big gimmick is that it folds. Scheduled to go on sale in mid-October at a minimum price of around $2,000, there is little doubt they will fly off the shelves.

Here is the thing about that phone: It is not measurably better than other phones. In many ways, it is similar or identical to folding phones that are already on the market from Samsung and Google. If an Apple loyalist simply wants the best device Apple has to offer, they can pick up the iPhone Pro Max, an objectively superior device, at a 35% discount compared to the Duo.

Allow me to reiterate: they will sell like crazy anyway. Which may cause one to wonder why.

The answer is simple: Status.

Costs and features be damned, a certain segment of consumers purchases the new iPhone every year like clockwork. Many repeat this behavior with their AirPods and MacBooks, and you will NEVER see them place a sticker over that Apple logo. That logo is a large reason for the premium they paid. They use it as a signal to those around them that they are cool, creative, wealthy, or whatever else they want to project. As NYU Professor Scott Galloway likes to say, Apple products signal that the owner is one of the "wealthiest billion people on Earth."

Forgive me, but I cannot help taking a moment to explain how patently ridiculous that statement is. The entry point to the wealthiest one billion people on Earth is an annual income of roughly $10,000 to $12,000 USD. Galloway’s claim relies on the assumption that owning an iPhone is what defines membership in that top tier.

The math says otherwise. Android commands roughly 70% of the global smartphone market. Even if you look exclusively at that top one billion income group, Android devices still account for the majority of the phones in their pockets. Owning an iPhone does not signal that you are in the top billion. It simply signals that you are willing to pay a premium to use the minority operating system. Galloway’s oft-repeated “stat” is not just off by a rounding error. It completely ignores reality.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest (accurate math is important to me), let us get back to signaling personal success. In a 2025 Inc. Magazine article, entrepreneur Robert Herjavec told a story about fellow “Shark Tank” shark and multi-billionaire, Mark Cuban. The gist of the story is that in a room full of executives in expensive suits, the man wearing the t-shirt is likely the most powerful. Mark Cuban, irrespective of his clothing, does not need to signal his status. His hard work got him to a position where his standing is evident, leaving him exempt from anyone’s dress code.

I am not suggesting that you throw out all your collared shirts tomorrow. Rather, I suggest reconsidering the strength of the signals you are sending. In a world where countless servants to the envy-industrial complex are worried about holding the "right" glass rectangle, perhaps the true power lies in transcending the need to signal at all.

The ultimate status signal is not a phone or even a t-shirt. It is contentment. The cost of that contentment cannot be put on a credit card. The precondition for it is freedom from the need to perform for anyone else. You can choose that freedom whenever you want, and it will not cost you a single dime.