US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone • Hacker News Board

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#481

Post by jjav » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:24 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #457

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must have gone without security or other OS updates then, which I would consider a deal breaker with a phone. Google only recently extended the Pixel OS support timeline to be on par with Android.

Yes, I don't care about getting updates. If they're important to you, that's fair. But the phones don't suddenly stop working without updates. They're still perfectly fine.

> Yes, I don't care about getting updates. If they're important to you, that's fair.

Hardware devices with embedded software couldn't get updates (or was a difficult job so didn't happen) until somewhat recently. It is unfortunate that the ability to do updates is used as a crutch to ship faulty software that then needs updates. A phone shouldn't ever need an update in its lifetime if it was properly built in the first place.

I only recently stopped using my Motorola cellphone from 2005 (only because they decommissioned the towers). It never received any update in 17 years. It also never needed any.

I would like to buy devices with that level of quality today.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#482

Post by Aerroon » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:24 PM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #416

Aerroon wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you also question why people buy quality shoes or mattresses? I do. I am 99% convinced that the majority of first world people waste way too much money on shoes that aren't any better or worse than cheaper options. Shoes don't really get all that much better than they were previously, but somehow they always change and the cost always goes up.

Shoes haven't changed? Do you wear nothing but Chuck Taylors? As someone with a multitude of foot issues, my options have exploded in the last couple decades.

I haven't found any shoes that address my foot issues. Even if I did I'm sure they would cost 5x the price of regular shoes and would provide almost no improvement.

Are there some kind of objective metrics on how modern shoes are better than shoes from 10 years ago? Are they objectively more durable? Is the shape somehow better for your feet? Because I haven't felt any of it. For me it's just like other clothing: change for the sake of change.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#483

Post by ghaff » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:26 PM UTC

delecti wrote: post #465

ghaff wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably to at least some degree among kids. No one else cares. Just like no one else cares about green bubbles vs. blue bubbles. But some people feel a need to convince themselves that no one would buy an Apple product for any reason but status.

Certainly not every Apple user cares about the status of it, but certainly far more users that care about the status of their devices are Apple users.

I guess but probably no more than the number of Samsung users who think they’re making some sort of anti-Apple statement.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#484

Post by unethical_ban » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:27 PM UTC

sb057 wrote: post #223

I'm part of this statistic. I've been an Android user my entire adult life, but it really has been a constant downward spiral over these past several years. My previous three phones from LG, Motorola, and Xiaomi all had major software bugs that were never fixed, the biggest being just incredibly poor network connectivity (across multiple carriers, mind you) resulting in at least several calls just not connecting to m…

Interesting you didn't name the two brands that are true, non-Chinese flagship Android: Pixel and Samsung.

If you want true software freedom on a phone, there is GrapheneOS on Pixel. I think Samsung is the better UI of the two, but if my Samsung breaks I think I'll go pixel and go graphene.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#485

Post by massysett » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:27 PM UTC

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #283

GeekyBear wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Android isn't _that_ bad From a support after the sale perspective? Yes it is. The $399 2016 iPhone SE is still getting security updates today. The original Google Pixel is also from 2016 but stopped getting any sort of updates at the end of 2019. If you want a basic phone that will be supported as long as possible after the sale, the support length per dollar spent proposition of the SE models is pretty unbeatable…

> I think this is a major factor that is driving market share towards iPhone. Few people outside of the tech nerd bubble care about this.

You’re right, few people care about how long the phone will be supported.

What they do want is an inexpensive phone that still runs the latest software. Because Apple models are supported so long, people can buy used, old iPhones that still run the latest software.

Others trade in their phones often because they always want the new shiny. Because Apple models are supported so long, the used phone they trade in has more value, allowing them to fork over less cash for the latest Pro phone.

These are the sort of factors that drive Apple’s market share up.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#486

Post by abathur » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:30 PM UTC

lolinder wrote: post #278

The link should really be to the original report [0]. This 55% is iPhone's share of phone shipments in Q2, not the number of users of the respective phones at any given time. In other words, fewer people are buying smartphones than were before, but Apple saw less of a hit to their numbers than everyone else did. Contrary to existing comments here, this stat doesn't appear to indicate that people are switching from An…

> Android users are more likely to avoid upgrading their phone in an uncertain economy,

I would probably be typing this on a recent Pixel if it had a damn headphone jack.

(Or even an external ~magsafe-for-headphone.)

Instead I'm still wringing value out of a 3a.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#487

Post by meroes » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:31 PM UTC

zh3 wrote: post #316

lolinder wrote: post #278

The link should really be to the original report [0]. This 55% is iPhone's share of phone shipments in Q2, not the number of users of the respective phones at any given time. In other words, fewer people are buying smartphones than were before, but Apple saw less of a hit to their numbers than everyone else did. Contrary to existing comments here, this stat doesn't appear to indicate that people are switching from An…

I'm constantly amazed by how people spend so much of their income on Apple products; it's almost like their lives are ruled by the status they feel an iPhone brings (and the consequential sacrificial purchasing). It likely varies by area and average income, here it's almost an inverse correlation - the less-well off kids at school tend to have parents on iPhones and the comfortable parents are on whatever works for t…

I’ve switched back and forth. Just had worse experience overall on android. Maybe I’ll try them in another few years. For a low budget I went through 3 androids and settled on a used iPhone which was waaay more stable.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#488

Post by jjav » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:31 PM UTC

foobarbazetc wrote: post #363

zh3 wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm constantly amazed by how people spend so much of their income on Apple products; it's almost like their lives are ruled by the status they feel an iPhone brings (and the consequential sacrificial purchasing). It likely varies by area and average income, here it's almost an inverse correlation - the less-well off kids at school tend to have parents on iPhones and the comfortable parents are on whatever works for t…

iPhones just work. Macs just work. 99% of people don’t want to spend time configuring anything. Both iOS and Android stopped innovating like 5 years ago, but at least the Apple ecosystem doesn’t feel dead like Android.

> Macs just work.

Not anymore. The hardware quality has gone downhill hard.

My powerbook from 2004 still works fine (kind of too slow, so I don't use it, but works fine).

In my powerbook from 2021 the entire right side of ports died less than a year into it.

Bought a macbook air in late 2022, one of the usbc ports died just a few months into its life. Which reminds me I need to take it to the store and see if they'll fix it or if I'm SOL again.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#489

Post by Xeamek » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:33 PM UTC

tjoff wrote: post #454

Xeamek wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Everything tries to connect to you ludicrous samsung account So, exactly as with google trying to sign into google's account? >the best selling point their apps have is that they try to masquerade them as standard android apps and not a cheap samsung knockoff. Again, same for google's apps which people think "come as a part of android", but in reallity they arent? >The telemetry and the dark patterns they utilize ge…

>So, exactly as with google trying to sign into google's account? Massive difference though. Samsung tries to trick people to use it by not being up front with what account it is and what it is for. Now, don't get me wrong. Google would probably do the same, but in this case they don't have to - because it is their OS. It is trivial to skip the google account if you want but it actually has its place in android. A sa…

>Google would probably do the same, but in this case they don't have to - because it is their OS. It is trivial to skip the google account if you want but it actually has its place in android.

No, it's not. AOSP is free and open source OS that is completely functional without google's account or services.

>Samsung tricks you into depending on them for the same stuff as google.

Well yes, but either we give a pass to both of them or none. Giving a pass to google just because "they are the more popular one" is simply dellusional and puts unfair expectations on any1 who tries to challange the status quo of current market.

>Why on earth would I want to use one I didn't have to?

If you treat those companies as necessary evil, then you are correct, it's more logical to choose the path with the least ammount of "deals with the devils".

But at the same time, this aproach is anti-competative. You will always buy into the biggest vendor, because it gives you the most features.

>And above all, why would I tie my android experience to one vendor?.

But you are alrady doing that with google's experience. Samsung just gives you an alternative. Some people like it, others don't. But it's just a preference.

> Regardless, who should be bundling crap anyway? The OS vendor or the hardware vendor?

AOSP foundation is vendor of base android. Google is vendor of google's android. Samsung is vendoer of samsungs OneUI. We are going to give google a pass literally just because they play a word game where they don't explicitly name pixels OS as "G-UI", like samsung does with their launcher? What?

>The hardware vendor is more than fine to write apps directly related to hardware features but other than that they should just fuck off.

But samsung doesn't markets itself as ONLY hardware vendor. They are software vendor as well, and their software is OneUI.

Just as google's software isn't AOSP, it's google android.

This whole distinction between hardware/software/OS is irrationall.

Re: US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

#490

Post by jjav » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 9:33 PM UTC

bee_rider wrote: post #394

jnwatson wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn’t any different than buying Nike, Gucci, or Michael Kors. Many folks are extremely brand and status conscious. Appearing high status is more important than many other expenses.

My phone is in my pocket 99% of the time, why would I care what people think about it? Anyway, a base model iPhone is only in the $600 range, that is like a week of minimum wage work in my state. Where’s the status? No, it is just a basic functional smartphone for people who don’t like to configure these things (I’ll happily tinker all day with my Linux laptop, but smartphones are just like the worst form-factor, I w…

> base model iPhone is only in the $600 range

Only? That's an inordinate amount of money for what's just a phone.