I am dissapointed in my peers. For years I have always been told to stay away from Apple devices and the company in general. However, no one who said that actually used their devices, or used them but not recently (some had like iPhone 4s in the past). Their knowledge was always based on some 3rd hand impressions or internet related peer pressure.
I am in the EU, and Apple devices aren’t as popular as in the US, mostly everyone uses an Android phone and a Windows machine. That also led me using Android and Windows in my daily activities, for the last 15 years. After many phones, starting with HTC Wildfire, i have continously been let down by my phone every 1 to 3 years after purchase.
First i was buying flagships, then mid-high, then back to non-pro flagship variants. I was also trying diffenent brands; HTC, LG, Sony, Samsung, Xiaomi, Nokia, OnePlus. When my last phone died, and i had to buy a new one, i had no idea what to get.
Everything seemed bad, i had them, they look the same, software looks the same, i was afraid of picking a “wrong” phone again. Every single one of them had some issue i couldn’t get over. Either notification problems, bad battery life, slow performance on camera, issues with sharing stuff, fingerprint annoyances, restarts…
Mind you, not everything was on a single device. One had great battery life but i wouldn’t get messages sometimes, other was great but battery life was poor, and on most of them the camera was laggy or buggy.
1 year ago, maybe a bit more, it dawned on me that the only brand i haven’t used anything from is Apple, so i got a basic iPhone 13 to “check it out”, planning on using it for a week or two just to see what the fuss is about. I was using my Android device as the main phone, and the iPhone as a second phone, I wasn’t ready for the jump.
After a week i found myself doing everything on the iPhone apart from voice calls, so then i finally took the SIM and retired my Android phone. 6 months later, my Windows laptop battery died and the repair would cost more than what the laptop is worth. So i decided to purchase a thin and portable laptop with intention to install Debian on it, as i was done with Win11 bugs and “features”.
After looking for 2-3 weeks, comparing different laptops, i was set on a HP 14inch laptop with a price tag of about €1300. Then i remembered that i am still thinking with my peers in mind. They were enraged on how i “betrayed” them by switching to iPhone.
I decided to look up Mac laptops and found out that they are actually very similary priced as the one i wanted to buy. I got out and purchased a M2 Air, basic configuration. I had no idea about the iPhone-Mac compatibility and integrations. Found out about AirDrop and other features. I was in love with this new combo that, cliche, “just works”.
My “friends” literally went 180 on me just for the dumb reason of using one brand instead of the other. None of them has actually tried to use Apple hardware. They were mocking me about being “locked in”, “fallen for their marketing”, and other stuff. “How do you like your iCloud subscription?”, things like that.
I have to tell you, i do not use any paid service from Apple. I succesfully conected my Apple devices to my home server where i keep my files, photos, calendar and all the other applications on it. I am not locked in, i feel like i have even more freedom because some services work better than on Android or Windows.
Syncing works flawlessly, something that was always janky on Android.
Sorry for the long post.
I guess what i am trying to ask is, why so much hate? Why can’t a person decide for themselves? Why is macOS/iOS looked down upon regarding connectivity with other devices and services when that’s clearly not the case?
Why do people that have no first hand experience so vocal and opposed to the brand? Shouldn’t you at least try and then be the judge?
I don't think 2 years is correct. I've got Android 13 on my 3.5 year old device, and I'm getting a "security update" right now.
I think the real point is, that Apple have probably burned too many bridges, they've made the anti-consumer behaviour the norm too. So even if they are technically the better option, many people are just not going to trust them anyway.
What I did look at is current models (iPhone 14 vs S23, iPhone 14 pro max vs S23 Ultra). For less money, the S23 beats out the iPhone in most areas. With the iPhone 14 pro max vs s23 ultra, the iPhone is still more expensive. I'd call it a draw, with both phones better at different things.
The other reason I personally would say Android wins out is the budget/mid-range market. The iPhone 14 being the lowest tier of the current batch (tell me if I'm wrong) being out of the price range of many people. Many people don't need all the bells and whistles of a high-end phone. £150-£250 gets you a perfectly usable android phone. Again, I don't know all apple models now, but for the current range is there something cheaper than the iPhone 14?
At the end of the day, people should get what suits them most. I'm not in the Apple ecosystem, the kind of things I do with my PC means I'm not really the target audience for the mac range and to get something comparable would likely cost me close to double. Otherwise thrre's not too much in it between the phones and I am just used to and prefer Android. I don't have the problems you originally described either.
Unfortunately security updates are really low on the update tree. I am glad that they exist, don’t get me wrong, but i would much rather want an actual update along with the security update, that brings in new features, fixes bugs etc.
As for a midrange phone, you can buy a non-pro iPhone from a last generation for a steep discount in comparison with the latest model. Not for £250 though. There’s also the SE phone that’s the cheapest if you don’t need all the bells and whistles.
I would disagree that (every) cheap phone is usable. Depends on what you do with it. If it’s for making calls and texting, then fine, but i don’t think anyone uses their phone just for that nowadays. Usable as in it powers on and accepts input, yes, but usable as in using it daily for a few years… Not so much.
Some of my colleagues have cheap androids from their employer as a work phone and they are absolute trash, waste of energy and resources.
Don’t get me wrong, people who can’t afford an expensive phone have options now that didn’t exist before the advent of Xiaomi and i’m very glad for that. But i think it’s wasteful (resource-wise) for a company to provide cheap androids that break after a year only to replace them with another cheap android for one more year. That helps noone, just generates more e-waste.