The stars are out.
Five of them, according to my colleague Jason Cipriani[1].
In reviewing the iPhone[2] XS Max, he describes it as "the future of the iPhone."
What, though, do real people on the street think about this and its smaller sibling, the iPhone XS[3]?
I've spent the last couple of weeks asking people on both coasts.
Also: iPhone XS Max first impressions: It's big, but not too big[4]
Now, when I say people, I mean real people: The 99 percenters who are taken advantage of every day.
They're bartenders, baristas, and store employees[5]. They're those who can't throw their money around on just anything.
Frankly, just about any human being I encountered was subject to a (polite, naturally) question about their thoughts on the new phone[6].
Where's the Hologram?
I began near my home in the Bay Area, shortly after the XS and XS Max launched. Some of the replies left me a touch quiet.
"I'm not going to care until they make a hologram phone," Sherine, a Starbucks barista, told me with some venom. "Anything else, forget it."
Her fellow barista Danny was supportive: "She's right. I've got a 7 and I'm not going to upgrade unless my plan gives me a new phone[7] or I break mine. But the hologram would be great."
That day, I went to a physical therapist. She didn't even know there was a new iPhone[8]. She was sure, though, that she didn't need one.
"What's so different about this