I think that GP meant it relative to the other mentioned luxury products. But honestly, I think many people buy Apple products they can't reasonably afford and

I think that GP meant it relative to the other mentioned luxury products. But honestly, I think many people buy Apple products they can't reasonably afford and end up in trouble because of that. A new iPhone is luxury. You can't really live without a smartphone these days (not just in "tier 1" countries!), but a $200 device covers your basics just as well as a $1000 iPhone. And before someone tells me they can live without a smartphone. I guess you can, but that may actually be the ultimate luxury, that is, it is more expensive to live without a smartphone than to live with one. It is telling that most of the homeless have smartphones, usually Android.