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US smartphone shipments fall sharply, but Android more than iPhone

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

#651

Post by rjh29 »

sneak wrote: post #608
rjh29 wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really worse though? I can use WhatsApp on any device I want, I'm not locked to iPhone. Japan uses LINE. Network effect implies a convergence to one app (pick your poison) and I am certain WhatsApp is better than the US situation.

Yes, it is really worse. One is an ad network built on mass surveillance of users; the other sells hardware.

Whatsapp has no ads, though. If it did my country would probably use a different app.

And nobody has made fun of me for having an android phone. Videos and group chats just work.

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

#652

Post by ghaff »

makeitdouble wrote: post #637
scarface_74 wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone 5s from 2013 got a security update earlier this year..

Fair point. Super critical security updates could go on, while official OS support is dead. To note, iOS doesn't allow alternative browsers so Safari will also be stuck in time and there will be no option to get any modern engine on the device (I'm not even sure you could get one through jailbreaking, that would be a lot of porting efforts for virtually no one on the market) I resurrected a third gen iPad a few weeks…

Macs are pretty much in the same boat. I have a couple 2015 models. Can’t get the latest major OS update. But they get updates and I expect I’ll be able to continue using them as primarily browsers for quite some time.

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

#653

Post by mechanical_bear »

jjav wrote: post #490
bee_rider wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

“Just a phone” is incredibly reductive, and not an argument made in good faith.

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

#654

Post by sb057 »

wilsonnb3 wrote: post #272
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…

"there really is no alternative if you want a decent cell phone in 2023" is just plain wrong. I try to avoid lumping all of the android manufacturers together and treat them individually when comparing them to apple. LG, Motorola, and Xiaomi are not as good as apple but Samsung is. Decent argument to be made for OnePlus, Google, and Asus matching apple as well.

My limited experience using friends' and family's Samsung phones is that they are the worst out of all of them. Absolutely nothing but bloated, buggy software that you can't disable.

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

#655

Post by sb057 »

willio58 wrote: post #438
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…

> I resent that my money went to a company like Apple When comparing Apple to a companies like LG, Motorola, and Xiaomi, what do you find to be worse about Apple? Genuine question.

I'm not a fan of them either, but at least they aren't positioned in a way to abuse their status as much as Apple is.

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

#657

Post by oska »

tmpX7dMeXU wrote: post #544
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…

I’m astounded by the pervasiveness of this meme, given its origins are really from a Mac vs PC internet flame war era that I would like to think we’ve moved past. I’m astounded by the fact that one can imply with a straight face no less that over half the market are status-driven dorks that have no legitimate reason to use an iPhone over an Android phone, the obviously superior for all people in all circumstances cho…

This comment came over as quite aggressive to me, and, browsing your new account history, I found a similar tone in other comments. As you are new here, I would urge you to read the HN guidelines :

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#658

Post by seanmcdirmid »

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…

Do you have evidence of that or is it just based on anecdotes? Studies have been done that show the opposite of what you are claiming; eg https://www.deseret.com/2018/7/11/20648686/do-you-own-an-iph..., https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5933261/iPho..., etc…

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

#659

Post by inkyoto »

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…

> […] the status they feel an iPhone brings […]

I am baffled why people keep making this asinine remark.

Stock iPhone is not status. Vertu is status (and is an Android platform), moreso the Vertu Signature line. Aftermarket modded iPhones that are encrusted with gold and diamonds are status. The former is the Jane Birkin bag of the smartphones, the latter is pure bling. Both send the same message: I have done financially exceptionally well (or my daddy has paid for it).

iPhone is equally unobtanium to anyone pre-launch nor does Apple make bespoke or customised editions for anyone, both of which also obliterate its purported status symbol. Ironically, it actually makes iPhone more equal and less status compared the status smartphones.

iPhone might be a status symbol in low income countries, and so are Samsung Galaxy's, the top of the range Huawei's, Xiaomi's and whatever else expensive there is out there.

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

#660

Post by GeneralMaximus »

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 use iPhones because I can get 5-7 years of use out of each one. Can you recommend an Android phone that has the same level of software support? Preferably something that also works properly with my MacBook, because that is what I use for work.
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