It would be asinine to presume that someone overweight with an iPhone has clearly “made it” based solely on those two factors.
Obesity is not a sign of adequate nutrition- it’s a sign of cheap food that induces overeating by design. As to the smart-phone, that’s driven by tech companies, who stand to make far more off aggregated data than the base cost of that gee-whiz pocket computer.
Meanwhile, the obese low-income person is more likely to get upside-down with subscriptions and finance payments while spending far too much time scrolling on Instagram and Pinterest (e.g. all systems designed to keep them hooked).
Can all that be overcome? Of course. But that requires education and viable alternatives at lower income levels, which are trending out of reach.
My point is one of practicality. Numbers on a computer screen or pieces of paper don't do anything. "Poor" people in America have more tangible goods and are more highly educated with fewer working hours and better working conditions than ever before. If it's because they are also in unsecured debt, then practically speaking that's actually the bank's problem.
I don't think it's a case of wealth disparity but actually a matter of everyone rising with the tide of affluence, which is a good thing.
As for as 'cheap food' - it is the world's biggest myth that healthy food is more expensive than junk food, probably because once upon a time that was true in the 1970s-1990s. That's part of the 'ok boomer' avocado toast meme. Most produce is dirt cheap, as is poultry. Ditto for rice and dried pastas. Red meat, cheese, chips / candy / snacks, soft drinks, and alcohol are the most expensive items you can buy at the grocery store. That's to say nothing of eating takeout at gross markups.
(As an aside - this is a reason why boat food is now so disproportionately expensive, as the 28 day menu is stuck feeding Kevin in the Wonder Years... the other reason being contractor robbery)
You don't need to eat tilapia and kale to control your weight, a simple banana ($.50) or large apple ($0.70) in lieu of a bag of Doritos ($2.50) will do. And perhaps cut back on dousing everything in a fatty sauce/gravy or cheese. There's this concept called 'seasoning.'
Obesity is a sign of excess and poor spending habits. We don't shake our fists at Kraft for engorging America with useless (nutritionally speaking) and expensive cheese products and condiments, do we? Or perhaps we should turn our ire to Anheuser-Bush et al for hooking Americans on alcohol dependency with multi-billion dollar ad campaigns. Guaranteed if you walk into 1,000 households between 100-250% of the poverty line that there's beer in the fridge in 900 of them.
Either way, Apple offering a product with a pricing plan that allows lower income Americans to afford it is the least of our economic worries. At least Apple isn't causing our government healthcare spending to exceed $1.5 trillion per year, matched by another ~$1 trillion of out-of-pocket consumer spending.
