Owning an iPhone doesn't mean to be an investment accounting to me. This had turned to be status symbol, even the person who doesn't have proper shelter holds an iPhone. This is the reality happening around the world, mainly in the third world countries. The market movement is directly connected with the economy too. An investment should appreciate in value whereas an iPhone keeps depreciating.
To me, phones, cars, clothes...all are just necessary things for life, there's nothing wrong with investing in them. But the blame here is that many people are facing economic difficulties but always like to show off and buy expensive products that are beyond their budget, which is condemnable. Furthermore, we all know that technology products lose value very quickly because new products have a very short lifespan, so spending a large amount of money to buy an iPhone is really a waste.
It cannot be denied that those things are everyone's dream, but we should clearly distinguish which things need to be owned first. Once we have financial freedom, iPhone or branded goods are no longer a problem.