this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Nearly 9 in 10 US teenagers use an iPhone, spelling disaster for Google's mobile future

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When looking at worldwide market share Android leads with 80+ percent.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Looking at the world I see 69% to 29% share in favour to android. There is no problem for android at all.

[–] Potatisen 55 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like the headline is incomplete, should probably add in America

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The subheading does specify that is in the US. And in the main text of the article, the very first line in fact, it mentions that Android has the largest market share worldwide.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Guys, should an essential device be "cool"? It doesn't hurt, don't get me wrong... But is it a good reason to buy a device you need?

Buy this shit because it works, not because it's cool. Android lets you do more, so I own one. That's it. Fuck Google, I just want to install third party apps.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

so youre not a teenager, eh?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

These are teenagers. Buying anything is done under the consideration of how cool it is. Literally everything else is not important during consideration, what matters is having the thing that makes you socially accepted.

If old school cell phones with monochrome pixel displays and zero functionalities beyond telephone and sms were trending, instead of just being a niche for people fed up with social media, kids would buy that in a heartbeat.

You probably forgot how overwhelmingly important social status and belonging to a group is at that age.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well my fridge is an essential device and it's cool.

But probably not cool with teenagers though...

[–] SpaceNoodle 23 points 1 year ago

Speak for yourself. My freezer is chock full of teenagers.

[–] v81 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They both suck. I wish my phone was like a PC and I could install whatever OS I wanted.

Now we live in a day where if you deviate from the manufactures installed OS you get no hardware or warranty support.

Imagine Dell refusing warranty if you installed Linux on a server.

I lean slightly to Android, but an not happy with Google's bullshit tricks with their phones, not the bloat and bullshit on a Samsung phone.

I'll be looking for an alternative soon... But there isn't much it there if you want an affordable near flagship.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Imagine Dell refusing warranty if you installed Linux on a server.

If you install Linux on an OEM PC, you will be denied service until you put Windows back on. Mentioning a server isn't a fair comparison.

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[–] RGB3x3 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I know Microsoft isn't a very good alternative as a company, but I do wish Windows Phone had taken off better.

At least it would have been some competition to the Duopoly we now have.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

americans just love the golden cage, also apple puts more into ads than lobbyists during a presidential election campain

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah they did a very clever thing for the past decade or so, by slapping their illuminated logo onto their laptops, then aggressively contracting TV studios to have the actors use Macs

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

Apple may have a monopoly on teens in the US, but the fact that most android phones are cheaper, more powerful, more customisable and look better, will keep Google in the top spot with android.

Also, and I realise this is anecdotal, but where I'm from in the UK, having an iPhone stands you out as a bit of a dullard. Wasted money and all that.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Why are iPhones so popular in the US compared to Europe? Is it a peer pressure kind of thing? Or simply status? The difference seems to be pretty substantial and I don't think it can be explained by user experience alone.

iPhones have a 58% (US) vs 26% (EU) market share.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (27 children)

I think it has to do with the messagin app. For some reason in the us it's still common to use plain sms messages, which on an iPhone get translated to the blue bubble, but when sent to an android become the infamous green bubble.

This is however not the case in the EU bc sms messages were still expensive enoughfuring that time that when whatsapp released, everyone did the switch so as to not to pay the sms fees, and now, even if sms are basically free, everyone uses whatsapp as the default messaging app.

And as we know on whatsapp there's no differentiation of anything regarding the device you are sending messages to, so no constant reminder of "this guy had an android".

Just my 2 cents on why this could be.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

which on an iPhone get translated to the blue bubble but when sent to an android become the infamous green bubble.

The interesting thing is that the green/blue bubble thing is only infamous in the US.

As you say, outside the US, people use messaging apps like whatsapp or wechat.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While other commenters are correct about the marketing in some aspects. As a parent of teenagers I will say if they don't have an iPhone they will be mocked relentlessly. The whole bubble color thing is real. They think androids are for poor people even though androids have a much larger range of price. This isn't a "my kids" thing. This is a "everyone in school thinks" thing.

God help me when they get their next upgrade and suddenly my chargers start going missing because "someone stole" theirs...

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They think androids are for poor people

So it boils down to classism among youths and in schools?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No, no, blame the children.

We, the current adults, are not at fault for the situation. It's others. Older adults, or the young people. It's only us who is enlightened, everyone else is fucking stupid.

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[–] Jackcooper 9 points 1 year ago

Apple is headquartered in America and used a lot of marketing with celebrities, musicians, trendsetters etc.

Samsung is really popular in Asia. There's something to be said for homefield advantage.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What's the carrier situation like in the EU? Do they market the iPhone aggressively in Europe? I'd suspect both of those may have some influence on the difference, but I'm as interested as you in what's affecting the differences in adoption between both regions.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Iphone is the superior phone for people that really dont want to know how a operating system works and dont want to learn either. Always when i talk about something i do on my phone that Apple has locked its users out of doing my iPhone-friends go "That sounds complicated" when its mostly basic af. I would not even dare call myself a power-user, because i am not. Its just that iphone is perfect for the tech illiterate.

[–] cm0002 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hm, we should start saying iPhones are for boomers, that'll probably change the tide lmao

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

TBH boomers and gen-z are quite alike when it comes to tech savviness and social media use, especially when something isn't an app.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A lot of it is due to peer pressure, marketing, and such.

I'm not from the US, but I knew people, who berated Android for having lower-end models (which meant even their flagship models are lower-end), some models still having headphone jacks (one of them screamed at me for buying a wired mouse, thus not insentivizing manufacturers to develop even better wireless technologies, thus enabling him to have a wireless audio interface and a portless Macbook (would be super elegant)), etc.

There's also Apple's massive foothold in the education market. I guess kids using iPads are more likely to stay with other Apple devices in the future.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

If the US had a functioning FCC that wasn't toothless aka their own Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, and Digital Markets Act, iMessage wouldn't even be a special.

[–] kaffiene 12 points 1 year ago
  1. Bullshit 2. World > USA
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whoever considers an iPhone as a status thing is generally broke anyway. I personally own both S23U and i14PM and I still use S23U because it helps me in my daily life much more than an iPhone. People claiming something about others based on a fucking phone preference aren't worth my time.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When Jobs kicked the bucket, RMS rightfully said that this mf'n evil genius has figured out a way of making people run to their stores with their arms stretched forward, asking them to handcuff them.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

RMS saying something true yet completely tasteless, truly iconic

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They think if they text a person whos on android, their iphone will get AIDS or something.

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[–] Beelzebob 7 points 1 year ago

Until mommy and daddy aren't paying for their phones anymore.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I'm assuming that stat is for the US because here Apple's stuff is very much in the minority with every group.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Around 90% sounds like absolute bullshit numbers.

[–] skeezix 4 points 1 year ago

That’s not a problem at all.

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