iPhone buying psychology: The doors of Apple stores across the world opened this morning for iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Pro Max sales. Somewhere outside a glass storefront, a man who has been awake since 3am is being handed a Apple iPhone in a paper bag by a staffer in a coloured T-shirt, and a small crowd is clapping for him. He might be an Apple loyalist. He might also be a reseller's runner, a lonely retiree, a teenager filming vertical video, or a man who simply likes the feeling of being applauded. But the pscychology researchs on this is surprisingly blunt: for a large share of the people in that line, the handset is close to incidental.
Long queues outside Apple stores have become a familiar sight whenever a new iPhone goes on sale. But if people can order the same phone online, why do some still arrive hours before a store opens and wait in line? The answer may have less to do with simply wanting a new smartphone and more to do with what psychologists and consumer researchers call competition, social influence, scarcity and the experience of waiting.
