Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

ft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 247 posts

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#61

Post by herbst »

leokennis wrote: post #27

I feel like many people love iOS, but many also hate it (not open enough, lock in etc.) but they hate the cheapishness and crappiness of Android even more. Is there any development ongoing for a mobile OS that is not full of crap like Android, but not as restrictive as iOS? Not sure if Windows Phone or PalmOS were like that, but those are both gone…

> cheapishness and crappiness

Not trying to attack but can you explain what you mean with that?

There are at least 200 current android phone models and at least 50 popular flavours of android around.

Sure you don't find a stock Samsung phone feeling 'luxury' but even a cheap Xiaomi with cleaned up stock android feels 'luxury' to me.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#62

Post by poink »

jrm4 wrote: post #31

Are there any "real" (come on, techy people, you know what I mean) reasons for going Apple besides I suppose the genuine convenience of fully interoperable phone/messaging across devices (which I fully concede is probably a big one for a good number of people?) The price differences between Android and Apple still strike me as absurd. On the other side, I went from "picking an Android very carefully for rooting" grad…

In isolation, I don't think there's much reason to buy an iPhone right now. I have an iPhone 12 Pro and a Pixel 6a and they're interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.

I also have a Mac, AirPods, and an Apple Watch, though. That makes it kind of a no-brainer which phone I carry around with me.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#63

Post by hamaluik »

leokennis wrote: post #27

I feel like many people love iOS, but many also hate it (not open enough, lock in etc.) but they hate the cheapishness and crappiness of Android even more. Is there any development ongoing for a mobile OS that is not full of crap like Android, but not as restrictive as iOS? Not sure if Windows Phone or PalmOS were like that, but those are both gone…

I fall exactly here.. I used Android for a long time, until I got tired of my phone becoming non-functional after just a year or two. Switched to iPhones, and now they’re lasting 4+ years. I miss the flexibility of Android and iOS is full of bugs and design-based papercuts, yet it still manages to beat Android in just about all the areas that truly matter to me.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#64

Post by Macha »

Kukumber wrote: post #2

They are also at ~30% on the desktop for consumer OS (non enterprise) How do i know? check stats from porn websites :) https://www.pornhub.com/insights/yir-2021#Devices-Technology

I'd imagine Pornhub's audience skews younger, as do Mac users given the colleges + Mac association. So I'm not sure this is totally representative. e.g. Steam has Mac at 2% which is unrepresentative in the other direction

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#65

Post by askonomm »

jrm4 wrote: post #31

Are there any "real" (come on, techy people, you know what I mean) reasons for going Apple besides I suppose the genuine convenience of fully interoperable phone/messaging across devices (which I fully concede is probably a big one for a good number of people?) The price differences between Android and Apple still strike me as absurd. On the other side, I went from "picking an Android very carefully for rooting" grad…

Price difference? iPhone SE is $429, iPhone 11 is $499, iPhone 12 $599, iPhone 13 $699. I feel like people who still are stuck at Apple pricing, have really no idea about Apple pricing. Sure, if you want the maxed out best iPhone, it'll be around 1 thousand USD, but so will be maxed out best Android.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#66

Post by bloqs »

bko wrote: post #40
londons_explore wrote: post #7

I attribute most of this to iMessage and the associated lock-in effect. You don't see the same trend in the rest of the world where 3rd party messengers (Whatsapp, Viber, Line, snapchat, etc) are mostly used for comms. The inability of iPhones to easily host 'cracked' apps also acts as an anchor to adoption - theres a lot of people hooked on their cracked ad-free spotify or youtube apps, or games with 'everything fre…

Are cracked apps really that popular? I'm pretty in touch with tech and piracy but I haven't thought of cracked mobile apps especially for something like YouTube and Spotify

Youtube Vanced (even in its now dying form) and Spotify from APKMody or similar are the main reason I dont move. Its two extra monthly subscriptions.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#67

Post by SNlMyhFioa »

jrm4 wrote: post #31

Are there any "real" (come on, techy people, you know what I mean) reasons for going Apple besides I suppose the genuine convenience of fully interoperable phone/messaging across devices (which I fully concede is probably a big one for a good number of people?) The price differences between Android and Apple still strike me as absurd. On the other side, I went from "picking an Android very carefully for rooting" grad…

I do not want to spend my free, leisure time tweaking personal devices beyond a few configuration options. I'm happy to pay for convenience.

I write code and setup cloud infrastructure for a living.

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#68

Post by hulitu »

adventured wrote: post #34
RappingBoomer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, i can AFFORD any phone i want...but i use a cheap android because my self esteem is not dependent on using money to signal other people about my high social status

The iPhone isn't a good social status signal any longer - the majority of smartphone users in the US have one. If the majority can afford something, it's quite obvious it no longer functions for signaling high social status. The iPhone hasn't been a good social status signal for nearly a decade at this point.

Tell that to school children. "Daddy why can't i have an iPhone ? Everybody has one "

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#69

Post by toddrossdiy »

I was a big fan and supporter of Android all the way from version 2.2 up to version 8. The final straw was when my brand new 800 dollar motorola phone, which was owned by google at the time stopped getting updates barely a year after I bought it. I also noticed that everything I liked about Android was slowly being stripped away, and Apple was slowly adding all the things I felt were missing. Still not the biggest fan of the fact that I have no headphone jack, but I'm still getting updates on my now 4 year old iphone, it didn't cost me any more than my last android did, and overall it just works so much better for me. Not everything is due to status symbols and affordability

Re: Apple overtakes Android to pass 50% share of smartphones used in US

#70

Post by ip26 »

robin_reala wrote: post #44
jrm4 wrote: post #31

Are there any "real" (come on, techy people, you know what I mean) reasons for going Apple besides I suppose the genuine convenience of fully interoperable phone/messaging across devices (which I fully concede is probably a big one for a good number of people?) The price differences between Android and Apple still strike me as absurd. On the other side, I went from "picking an Android very carefully for rooting" grad…

iPhone Mini: you basically can’t get an Android phone with reasonable specs and a reasonable size.

Yes, this is exactly what drove me to switch.
Post reply on HN