Nearly 9 in 10 US teenagers use an iPhone, spelling disaster for Google’s mobile future

  • the_q@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Teens are more susceptible to marketing and peer pressure. It’s not their fault or anything it’s just their brains aren’t finished cooking and these companies take advantage of that.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      11 months ago

      Yeah, there’s the whole green vs blue chat bubbles thing too. They’ll leave people with Android phones out of the group chat, which isn’t exactly great for your social life at school.

    • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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      11 months ago

      Their parents are to blame too. You shouldn’t be giving a kid everything it wants. How the fuck would a kid find the money to buy such expensive trash anyway?

    • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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      11 months ago

      Yes - right now. If 87% of teens in the US have iPhones, what do you think will happen to that stat in the US and then the world, where people copy-paste US trends to feel wealthy or cool (even adults)?

  • Fermiverse@feddit.de
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    11 months ago

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

      • yata@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        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.

        • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Makes sense to include mentions that this is about the US in the Lemmy post. US is not the default

    • V ‎ ‎ @beehaw.org
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      11 months ago

      How much of that split is among the 3rd world and over 25s? Demographics matter, and paint a very different picture.

      • MudMan@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        I don’t know a single person of any age that uses an iPhone. I live in a medium-to-high income country.

        A news program yesterday used a QR code to provide a link to a political document that is newsworthy. The anchor instructed people to “point your Android at the screen” to download the document.

        Americans are vast outliers in this.

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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      11 months ago

      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.

  • einfach_orangensaft@feddit.de
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    11 months ago

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

  • Virtual Insanity @lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • Omgpwnies@lemmy.ninja
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      11 months ago

      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.

  • Hubi@feddit.de
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • sergih@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      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.

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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        11 months 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.

      • hushable@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        off topic, by any chance are you using Jerboa? ses like your comments is missing some spaces and I suspect it might be a bug with the app

        • sergih@feddit.de
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          11 months ago

          Yes! Wow it has to do with the app? I was going crazy, yes when I delete a word it shifts back and joind with the last word, it drives me nuts, are they planning on fixing it? Or do you recommend me another app?

      • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        The blue bubbles mean you’re using iMessage, which is encrypted. You don’t have to download a separate app owned by Facebook which makes texting iPhone to iPhone so much better.

        • Kid_Thunder@kbin.social
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          11 months ago

          In the US most carriers (and certainly the big 3) support end-to-end encryption via RCS. Though of course, Apple won’t support the Diffie-Helman exchange outside of iMessage or anything RCS at all.

          • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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            11 months ago

            …which you need to install Google or Samsung messages to take advantage of, so it’s the same thing.

            Until all phones use the same protocols in their stock messages app, SMS will still be used to send between the different platforms.

            • Kid_Thunder@kbin.social
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              11 months ago

              RCS is a standard and is application and even operating system agnostic. Anyone, including applications outside of Android can support it.

              iMessage is not a standard and certainly not agnostic.

              • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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                11 months ago

                Ok, well I still don’t want to install another app to use it so I guess we’re stuck.

                What really needs to happen is for all the phone makers agree to use the same protocols (and I really don’t care which) so we can all have end-to-end encryption by default.

                • Kid_Thunder@kbin.social
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                  11 months ago

                  That’s the thing. Essentially everyone has agreed, except for Apple. This includes 12 phone manufacturers and at least 55 operators world-wide.

                  Even Microsoft since Windows 10 supports RCS in the Your Phone app, so if you’re using a Windows desktop or laptop, even it supports RCS.

            • schnokobaer@feddit.de
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              11 months ago

              No, which Apple would have to integrate into iMessage.

              Until all phones use the same protocols in their stock messages app

              Literally the point. Everyone is waiting for Apple, EU is considering forcing them (again.)

              • chi-chan~@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                I really hope they won’t, because it’s very bad for privacy.

                It’s fantastic for security, but a privacy disaster.

        • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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          11 months ago

          Stupid question, but does imessage allow you to record messages, post videos, pictures, gifs, attach files, hold polls, start groups, etc?

          Or is it still mainly an sms based thing?

    • IDontHavePantsOn@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      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…

    • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      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.

    • Jackcooper@lemmy.world
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      11 months 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.

    • V ‎ ‎ @beehaw.org
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      11 months ago

      RCS has failed to take over the market, creating a strong preference for iMessage. Additionally, iPhones just work. The curated App Store means far less malware and buggy crap apps. Pile on the social aspects and few people under 25 are going for iPhones.

      • D1G17AL@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        You sound like every cringe teenager worried about the status of blue or green messages. Cringe bro. Just absolutely cringe.

        • V ‎ ‎ @beehaw.org
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          11 months ago

          Frankly I don’t care. I use a mixture of both ecosystems. I’m not going to deny reality either and pretend that the average American in their target demographics doesn’t. I find it disappointing that as soon as anyone points out something someone else doesn’t like others go straight to attacking the person and not the point. The real cringe is taking the sides of companies that don’t care about you beyond the revenue you bring them.

      • MudMan@kbin.social
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        11 months ago

        I don’t know what RCS even is.

        We all just use Whatsapp here, both on iPhone and Android. If you bought an iPhone for some reason and tried to text people through iMessage you’d get laughed out of the room.

        Also, holy crap, how long has it been since you looked at the Play Store? Is that narrative about Android still running in the US? I legitimately hadn’t heard that one in years.

      • Hubi@feddit.de
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        11 months ago

        That doesn’t explain the difference in market share. Seems like there are cultural differences.

        • V ‎ ‎ @beehaw.org
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          11 months ago

          It might be, and given the States’ rather unique culture I have a feeling it’s a big contributor other factors notwithstanding.

  • Lowlee Kun@feddit.de
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    11 months ago

    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@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

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

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
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        11 months 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.

    • MiddledAgedGuy@beehaw.org
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      11 months ago

      Apple’s whole shtick for a long time now is ease of use. In that way, one could argue that they played a part in the current level of tech illiteracy (though if people wanted to learn tech in the first place, they wouldn’t have succeeded, but I disgress). So, they’re just harvesting the fruits of their labor. Pun absolutely intended.

  • ZILtoid1991@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    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.

  • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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    11 months 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.

  • somegeek@programming.dev
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    11 months ago

    I honestly think that is only a thing in the USA. Nowhere else in the world thinks like this. Also the type of bullying and even school shootings that we see and hear are mostly only-USA issues so I think there is something really wrong with teens over there.