Apple culture grows with launch of iPhone 6

People are criticizing the hype around the new iPhone 6 smartphone saying customers are falling for Apple’s consumer-culture.

Hundreds of people waited outside Apple stores across Canada to discover the new iPhone 6 was sold out by 7 a.m. last Friday morning.

A larger screen with better resolution along with a more efficient battery and overall faster operating system is enough some say to convert them to the Apple Inc. brand.

Even iPhone owners are critical of the motives consumers have when buying the products.

“It has become such a fad,” says Victoria Windsor, an employee at the Microsoft store and iPhone 5 owner. “They could have sold the phone for a lot less and still made a lot of money.”

Windsor, who watched people form lines outside the Apple store for hours, says people are more interested in being part of what she calls the Apple culture, rather than the new features the smartphone offers.

Apple Inc. reported a double-digit profit gain in the last quarter, months before launching the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus.

With the new smartphone costing $749, many devout Apple consumers believe the amount is too costly to pay full-price.

“I definitely could not justify paying the full [price],” says Adam Wathan, a computer software student and iPhone 6 owner.

Wathan, upgrading his Apple plan in order to save money on pre-ordering, believes the brand may be consciously becoming a luxury one.

Alongside the iPhone product sales doubling since the release of the iPhone 6, the company will also release the Apple Watch, its version of a phone-capatible watch in early 2015.

“I’ve always appreciated the quality of Apple products, but I hope they don’t lose focus on just building great products that really do a great job at solving problems people have in their lives,” he says referring to Apple being a luxury brand.

After weekend sales, the iPhone 6 reached more than ten million smartphones sold, soaring past the previous iPhone model, that sold five million in its opening weekend.

The Apple Inc. Canada press release says the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are the biggest advancements in iPhone history.

“Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for launch weekend, and we couldn’t be happier,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, says in the press release,

Selling-out on the first day, iPhone pre-order buyers may be waiting until October when the next shipment comes in.

“Apple makes [phones] so much better,” says Zehavi Zynoberg, assistant to a Vaughn MPP and iPhone 6 owner. “That’s why it’s worth waiting for.”

Zynoberg says the larger and improved screen of the new iPhone 6 is what drew him to pre-order his smartphone, which he received Friday morning.

Upgrading from his iPhone 5, Zynoberg says he is still disappointed in some of the new features.

“I was disappointed that it wasn’t water proof,” he says. “And that the camera protrudes at the back a bit.”

The price of the iPhone 6 is only worth paying if you have a model older than the iPhone 5, the new iPhone 6 owner says.

Zynoberg also agrees there seems to be an Apple consumer-culture that exists.

“I think I’m part of the Apple cycle,” he says, adding he has a MacBook Pro and has owned multiple smartphones from the brand.

The new iPhone is currently on backorder in Canada and will be available in more than 20 countries by Friday.