Because phones are actually useful. They aren't just fashion pieces. They may ALSO be fashion pieces, but they aren't JUST fashion pieces. People are willing

Because phones are actually useful. They aren't just fashion pieces. They may ALSO be fashion pieces, but they aren't JUST fashion pieces. People are willing to repeatedly pay for the latest model of something that they use constantly throughout the day as one of their chief tools for mediating the world. If (and that is a meaningful "if") it is indeed true that the aWatch is fundamentally a status symbol that has little functional value, we would expect many fewer people to rush to upgrade it.