I’ve been living in Japan since 1997. Does not make me an expert, just that over the years I see/hear/read things.
As for this particular point, well, theres lots of old folks in my neighborhood and I talk to my neighbors. When someone gets a new phone or something fancy it becomes a topic of conversation. The “I got a smartphone” conversation was years ago. Nowadays the only phone conversations are fussing about the young known nothings who work at Softbank/Dokomo/AU (the three major mobile carriers for those following along).