Earlier quoted context omitted.
From my world experience, this is a pure Americanism. And Americans broadly seem to care a more about status than the other 95% of the worlds population.
go to latin america. I bought a phone for a girl awhile back while I was there. she literally chose a used 3 year old iphone over a brand new android that costs more. I even showed her that the secs on the android were objectively better. "Quierro un iphone!!" its definitely not an american only thing
For me, an iPhone is better than any Android phone. I don’t know why this is surprising to many people.