You know what's the biggest prediction of being rich? Well besides having lots of money.
Apparently, the researchers at the University of Chicago have discovered that owning an iPhone in the United States means you are financially well off.
Owning Apple's flagship smartphone gave the researchers a 69% chance at correctly determining that the owner was in a "high-income" tax bracket.
While some low-end Android phones retail for as little as $100 or less, Apple recently raised the price of its highest-end iPhone to $999 or more.
The researchers used data from Mediamark Research Intelligence, which had a sample size of 6,394.
The paper is a look at how different groups — such as rich and poor, black and white, men and women — have had their preferences diverge over time. The economists used a machine learning algorithm to conclude that "cultural differences," or how common brands and experiences are across groups, aren't getting larger over time.
In previous years, having Land O' Lakes butter in the fridge or using Kikkoman soy sauce were predictive of high-income households as well as Grey Poupon mustard.