Apple is set to unveil a new generation of iPhones next week, and millions of Americans – mostly millennials – are willing to go into debt in order to get their hands on the latest mobile marvels.
So says financial news and services site WalletHub in a new survey out Monday.
Why the mania?
It’s more than just being cool.
“iPhones are becoming more than phones. They are quite functional little computers,” Lewis Davis, an associate professor of economics at Union College, told WalletHub . “Economically, it makes sense to go into debt for items that deliver services over several years. … If you tend to get a new phone every three years, however, then you shouldn’t take out a five-year loan to pay for it.”
Reports are that the new iPhones will range in price and features with prices starting around $700 and reaching $1,000 or more as they did last year for the “X.” Apple’s announcements are set for Sept. 12.
Research site Trendforce protects Apple to unveil a “budget” iPhone 9 at around $700.
Higher-end OLED models will be more costly and could match Samsung’s recently unveiled Galaxy Note 9 for cutting-edge features such as an “Apple Pencil.”
In the survey, WalletHub says more than 18 percent of people under age 45 say a new iPhone is “debt-worthy.” Most of those were millennials.
Among people over age 45, the Apple ardor is much less intense with only 5 percent of those surveyed saying they would be willing to incur more debt for a new iPhone.
Read more about the survey online.
Want to know more about the latest iPhone gossip? Check out The Register.
