Whenever a new Apple iPhone comes out, people assume that everyone is going to get one, which leads to those who buy one so that they do not feel out of the loop. However, back in the 1990s, no one would assume everyone was buying the latest Apple product. Actually, Steve Jobs, the presumed figurehead that governed Apple one-hundred percent of the time, was not involved in any way from 1985 to 1996. Jobs was notorious for being unreasonable and incredibly difficult to work with at times, so it was certainly not a surprise that his company board outed him from of the company.

It was not all that bad for Jobs, as in 1986 he started a new computer company, NeXT inc., and bought Pixar, a then-obscure animation company which was originally owned by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. NeXT was doing so well and taking away potential clients from Apple that in 1996 they bought out the company for $430 Million and agreed to put Jobs back at Apple in an advisory position. However, in 1997, he became interim CEO after the previous CEO left the company and eventually became the official CEO in 2000. Soon they introduced the all-in-one iMac Desktop and the iPod. The company’s profits soared.

Fast-forward to present day and Apple has created much of the technology that people use. This includes the new iPhones that they introduced this year, the iPhone 8/Plus and the iPhone X. The iPhone 8/Plus, released Sept. 22, has received rather mixed reviews primarily for the reason that it just simply did not expand or include any new features compared to the previous iPhone model. However, it looks to be quite the contrary for the iPhone X, as it includes and abundance of new features: such as an improved outer design, an all-new “Super-Retina” resolution and wireless charging. For all these benefits, though, the new iPhone X holds quite a hefty price starting at $999.99.

Highland Park High School students such as Yousef Hashmi believe that people are wanting to get the new product just for the sole purpose of getting to say that they bought the new iPhone.

“I’m part of that entire cliché of people who are just part of branding and materialistic ideologies,” Hashmi said. “There are problems that I clearly see in this phone in that there is no headphone jack, so how am I supposed to listen to music?”

Hashmi refers to the fact that newer models of iPhones require buying Apple-brand wireless headphones for those that wish to listen to music.

“Still though, I’m not a fan of it, [but] there is facial recognition,” Hashmi said. “Did we ask for that?”

It is clear that Apple seeming has a monopoly on Highland Park High School when it comes to cellphones, as many students are always planning to purchase the new iPhone year-in and year-out, even if the students think that the phone isn’t worth their money.