No Stupid Questions

Why do most [insert country here] people use [insert brand from their country here]???

Honestly, at this point, the only reason to go with either ecosystem is that Android, for now, allows you to escape Google, to some degree depending on how much work you're willing to put in. IOS/apple doesn't allow that

But, Google is trying hard to get to the same place.

But, ignoring that, apple got there first. That's what it amounts to. The first real smart phone was by Apple, and that gave them a leg up

I personally do not trust Google at all. Their entire business model is ads and tracking.

android user now but basically... it might be that most of us Americans try to take the path of least resistance or whatever doesn't give us headaches. I mean like, almost everything we do (except taxes) are pretty simplified. And even for taxes, we can LITERALLY pay for services to simplify or do it for us ( like wtf, this is kinda stupid). Apple does a good job of making it an easy experience.

1. easy to use - like an automatic car vs manual car.

2. popular apps just work - I don't think its a problem now but I remember when some social media apps were just broken on android vs iphone.

3. a lot of the software looks pretty clean and fancy. Gives it a polished experience.

4. HARD TO LEAVE - Apple products work better with other apple products. Once you leave, you basically lose out on all the purchases you've made over the years.

5. Apple store support - life saver for most people

6. Security updates more consistent.

Hell, trying to adjust from typing with iphone keyboard to android keyboard took longer than expected.

Also our government issues out iphones for fed employees.

Because they are easily gullible.

The binary choice is the freedom. As many people in this thread have discussed, it’s not a real choice, but it’s simple enough that most people will put on blinders and accept the available options.

I use iPhone. It sucks but network effect from people in my circle brought me here

I would never use an iPhone if my phone were my primary computing device. But I just make occasional calls and texts, and use a handful of apps (for instance, Nextcloud and Home Assistant connected directly to my home server, bypassing most of Apple’s ecosystem).

For a secondary device, I just want something simple and sturdy that I have to think about as little as possible—and for that specific use case the limitations are a plus.

Usamericans usually like to look for "the best", whatever that means, and never accept "second". I assume that they need that to feed their pride.

Apple has managed to make them believe that iPhone products were the best smartphones, and all of Apple's marketing is focused on maintaining that belief.

Through the release of the first iPhone to the mid 2010s I'd wager that most consumers agreed that iPhones were superior to Android by most metrics: they featured more support across the board, had more apps, looked nicer, and were considered the premium. Apple pioneered the modern smartphone and had a headstart in getting users hooked into their ecosystem. Nowhere was this more pronounced than in the wealthiest country in the world (and Apple's home country).

That's a huge generalization but I think it resonates true to a degree. Also, anecdotally, I remember that all my school computers were Macs when growing up. I'm sure Apple seeped its tendrils into people's lives a variety of ways. It's not a cake walk for most people to switch ecosystems. As a lifelong Windows user I'll have a panic attack if you asked me to print a document on a Mac; I'm sure its the same vice versa lol