This may be true for some, but not for me and my family. I have 6 siblings with families of their own, as well as a large extended family. Over the years I probably convinced half of all the households to buy at least one Mac, then iPhones, iPads, etc. I think one of my nieces or nephews has one of them yet thats on its last leg that they use because my sister doesn't care about it anymore. Other than that none of them have Macs. They all asked me about upgrading, but I told them any computer they wanted to buy would do what they wanted because it was true. They didn't pick macs. Most of them who had iPhones still have them, but as I already mentioned they don't upgrade them until the device breaks.... and since they no longer have macs, I wouldn't be surprised if they go to another phone. My older sister already did.
Apple has too much brand recognition to be influenced on a large scale by a select few. Sure you can say PC with dozens of brands, but nearly everyone knows what an iPhone/ iPad is, or that a Mac is made by the same company. Chances are other people know friends and family who have them that are not tech savy who will give their own experiences or show their friends. There are far more less than tech savy people using these devices than the tech elite. Because thats primarily the target market Apple is shooting for with their business model.