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$1000 USD is 1.8 weeks full time of the minimum wage in my country (Australia). It might be dumb for a minimum wage earner to spend 1.8 weeks of their income o

$1000 USD is 1.8 weeks full time of the minimum wage in my country (Australia). It might be dumb for a minimum wage earner to spend 1.8 weeks of their income on a mobile phone, but I absolutely believe a certain subset of working-class Australians will, with some difficulty, manage to scrape together enough to buy one. Or, more realistically, they'll finance one on a $100/month phone plan, which I also think is a bit ridiculous and unwise, but not so far fetched as to be impossible for many lower-income people who really want to do it. Now, if you're middle class... let's just say that as someone who earns a salary that's within the same ballpark as the national median, I could go out and buy several iPhone Xs tomorrow if I had to...

quuquuquu 9y ago
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-americans-spend-their-money-2017-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/how-americans-spend-their-mon... Here's a chart of how a middle class American family currently spend their money. Please note 74k in income is pre tax, and 57k in expenses is post tax. So, the average American family is actually spending every dollar they earn. I don't know where technology fits in to this current budget, but you can see it's pretty much pegged due to housing and healthcare. $1,000 for one phone is out of the budget for all middle class Americans, period, unless they begin to cut back on cars or food. Which, you can assume that some might, but on the aggregate, they won't. I could go out and buy literally 100 motorcycles tomorrow, but I wouldn't even buy one, and I damn sure wouldn't buy one that was 5x more expensive than a similar motorcycle that isn't "luxury". Thank you for writing :)
- tgb 9y ago
  I disagree. I expect the median middle class American to have an iPhone X or other phone that costs within 15% of that. I ride the public transportation in a not-so-well-off area and new, high end phones are ubiquitous. I think the miscalculation that you're making is underestimating how important phones are for people, both in their usefulness and in their status. People will absolutely save money for an iPhone that won't/can't save money for emergency costs. The only question is whether the iPhone 8 will be enough to keep people from buying the X.
  - quuquuquu 9y ago
    Thank you for your perspective :) High end as in iphone 5c, iphone 6, or iphone 7? My iphone 5c, cracked screen, was like $40 off of ebay or something. When it came out, the original price was like 200-400 depending on contracts and gb capacity. I think you will see the same thing happening with iphone 6s too. But if you told me that you see a large number of fast food employees and janitorial employees and etc riding the bus to work, with iphone 7s in their hand in the first year of launching, I'd definitely be surprised and interested. I too rode the bus for 3 years and never really noticed that trend among those types of workers who are struggling the most. I just saw a ton of galaxy s3 phones, which are awesome phones from 2012 or whatever. I don't doubt your experiences however! It is a really interesting thought to have. If they are affording it, I can only assume they aren't purchasing something else, like a car or high end laptop or house.
    - tgb 9y ago
      It's true, I don't really know enough to tell how recent the phone is (I'm an Android user and don't even know that market very well). I do think people spend "more than they can afford" on their phones. Compared to past generations that spent more than they could afford on cars, say, it's a relatively cheap thing to splurge on. And if they're going to splurge on one thing, lots of people will pick their phone these days.

quuquuquu 9y ago

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-americans-spend-their-money-2017-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/how-americans-spend-their-mon... Here's a chart of how a middle class American family currently spend their money. Please note 74k in income is pre tax, and 57k in expenses is post tax. So, the average American family is actually spending every dollar they earn. I don't know where technology fits in to this current budget, but you can see it's pretty much pegged due to housing and healthcare. $1,000 for one phone is out of the budget for all middle class Americans, period, unless they begin to cut back on cars or food. Which, you can assume that some might, but on the aggregate, they won't. I could go out and buy literally 100 motorcycles tomorrow, but I wouldn't even buy one, and I damn sure wouldn't buy one that was 5x more expensive than a similar motorcycle that isn't "luxury". Thank you for writing :)

tgb 9y ago
I disagree. I expect the median middle class American to have an iPhone X or other phone that costs within 15% of that. I ride the public transportation in a not-so-well-off area and new, high end phones are ubiquitous. I think the miscalculation that you're making is underestimating how important phones are for people, both in their usefulness and in their status. People will absolutely save money for an iPhone that won't/can't save money for emergency costs. The only question is whether the iPhone 8 will be enough to keep people from buying the X.
- quuquuquu 9y ago
  Thank you for your perspective :) High end as in iphone 5c, iphone 6, or iphone 7? My iphone 5c, cracked screen, was like $40 off of ebay or something. When it came out, the original price was like 200-400 depending on contracts and gb capacity. I think you will see the same thing happening with iphone 6s too. But if you told me that you see a large number of fast food employees and janitorial employees and etc riding the bus to work, with iphone 7s in their hand in the first year of launching, I'd definitely be surprised and interested. I too rode the bus for 3 years and never really noticed that trend among those types of workers who are struggling the most. I just saw a ton of galaxy s3 phones, which are awesome phones from 2012 or whatever. I don't doubt your experiences however! It is a really interesting thought to have. If they are affording it, I can only assume they aren't purchasing something else, like a car or high end laptop or house.
  - tgb 9y ago
    It's true, I don't really know enough to tell how recent the phone is (I'm an Android user and don't even know that market very well). I do think people spend "more than they can afford" on their phones. Compared to past generations that spent more than they could afford on cars, say, it's a relatively cheap thing to splurge on. And if they're going to splurge on one thing, lots of people will pick their phone these days.