There are a lot more reasons to buy iPhones than status symbols and privacy. Chief of which is better performance and longevity.
The iPhone 5s from 2013 is still getting OS updates. The iPhone 6s from 2015 will still outperform most new Android phones and should be getting updates for at least another two years.
That's my point, when it came out the marketing around the iPhone was how using apple made you a trendsetter and you were ahead of the curve, now everybody has one. So raise the price and bring back the sense of exclusivity
as for performance, it really doesn't matter for luxury items. People pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for old cars and it's not because they perform better than a modern economy class vehicle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nyYloJyq9M
Or you can watch every single iPhone ad. None of them scream exclusivity.
https://www.theverge.com/2012/2/24/2820832/every-apple-iphon...
There are other iPhones for sale besides the $1500 maxed out iPhone XS Max.