I feel the iPhone can be a status symbol to some people who mainly bought them because they love Apple products, or to look cool by using an iPhone.
A few Android smartphones like Vertu smartphones which cost many thousands of dollars and more are also status symbols because they are expensive, and made from expensive materials like leather on the case.
Fancy smartphone cases, and very loud and expensive Bluetooth wireless speakers and some smartphone headphones can also be considered status symbols.
People really do think of phones as status symbols.
I don't really get why but many people have iPhones because they are way popular and people want them just for that. For me, I just need a reliable phone that meets my daily needs.
Anything by apple is WAY overpriced for what you actually get. You are paying a premium simply for that logo.
The hardware you get is a couple years behind most of what the competition's flagships have. (I mean compare a Samsung S series to an iphone... the latest iphone will likely be on par with an S series from ~2 years ago. Don't believe me? 2018's iphone xs vs 2016's S7... The xs has a hexa core processor, the S7 has an octa core. Both have 4GB ram. The xs has a 2658 mAh battery, the S7 has 3000 mAh. The xs has 458 pixels per inch vs 577 pixels per inch on the S7. The xs has a 5.8" screen vs the S7's 5.1" screen. This is the only area where the xs "beats" the S7. I say that in quotes because some people do like screens closer to 5" rather than 6".)
Software wise, I haven't really been following iOS much but I wouldn't be surprised if it's still a few years behind Android in many ways. About the only thing good about iOS that I've seen is if you use a lot of apple products then they sync up seamlessly. (But I'd kinda expect that given how much they cost.) But unless you really invest in the apple ecosystem you can't really take advantage of a lot of those features.
