What does your Mobile Phone say about you? Your Smartphone as a fashion accessory projecting power, status and wealth and lifestyle entertainment choices.
In the early days of mobile phones, a “handset” was a bulky device that needed a battery so big it would come with its own carry case. This meant that the very first phones actually looked more like briefcases than those we would recognize today. Fast forward a few years and their size had shrunk drastically, but a mobile in the late 1980s would still come with a large retractable aerial and be around the size of a house brick.
Despite their size and clunkiness, these devices were very much fashion accessories. They projected power, status, and wealth, three things that many cultures have always seen as desirable qualities to exude.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, phones got smaller, and people began to use them as a way to express themselves. Customizable phone cases and ringtones were all the rage, and you could tell a lot about someone just by hearing which polyphonic tune their device played when they received a phone call.
Today, things are a little more subtle. Most of us leave our phones on vibrate, so we need a new way to express ourselves through our technology. For the most part, the main way we do it today is through the model of phone we buy.
iPhones
Apple has one of the best marketing teams in the world. It has transformed itself from a company that sells computers to one that sells dreams. In the desktop and laptop market, Mac products have a reputation for lasting longer than PCs and are aimed primarily at creatives who want to edit photos, create videos, and produce music.
However, iPhones are targeted a little more broadly as the company has positioned this range of mobile phones as the premium quality product and the best option on the market. One study conducted by Telstra in Australia found that iPhone users were often more extroverted, enjoyed traveling, and were likely to indulge in luxury products.
A similar study conducted in the UK found that iPhone users were more image-conscious and likely to spend more on their clothes and grooming.
Several studies have also found that iPhone users are twice as likely to own other Apple products, including Mac computers and Apple Watches.
Android Phones
Android phones come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s difficult to lump them all into the same group. Some handsets that use the open-source operating system are more expensive than the iPhone, while others are much cheaper.
Android users typically tend to be more fickle, willing to switch between brands depending on the price and what features are on offer.
While Android has more users, they tend to earn less than iPhone users, on the whole. This would make sense since the cheapest smartphones are usually Android devices.
Some Android users, particularly the ones that spend more on their handsets, purchase their smartphones as a protest against Apple, in a similar way to how some people prefer “alternative” cultures to the more mainstream options.
Gaming Phones
Today, any smartphone can be used to play games. Even entry-level handsets have more than enough power to handle many of the most popular titles. In fact, they are widely credited with being responsible for introducing many people to the world of gaming.
Around 89% of the world’s 2.7 billion gamers use their smartphone to enjoy titles ranging from Candy Crush and Mini Metro to PUBG Mobile and Fortnite. In many countries, video slots are also incredibly popular among mobile users thanks to sites like Casino Betway which have developed exclusive titles like Nevada Nights, One Shot Multiplier, and Soccer Striker.
For some people, a mainstream smartphone isn’t enough. They want the ultimate mobile gaming experience, so they invest in a specialist handset like the ASUS ROG 3 that is designed specifically for long playing sessions.
Gaming phones look quite different from most other smartphones, especially if you use their detachable cooling devices. The owners of such handsets may perceive them as trendy and cool, or they may not care as they are more interested in getting the best performance from their games.
Feature Phones
The term “feature phone” refers to ones that don’t have the functionality that typically defines a smartphone. Some clumsily refer to them as “dumb phones”, though this is perhaps a little unfair since these devices are still pretty clever.
Feature phones are often significantly cheaper than smartphones, with some available for around the same price as a large coffee in Starbucks. Some people that use these devices are doing so because they’re on a budget, but there are a growing number of users that are buying them to free themselves of the “always-on” element of owning a smartphone.
Others may do it if they want to disconnect and go semi-off grid since feature phones don’t typically have GPS tracking functionality.
