Apple's Popularity With Gen Z Poses Challenges for Android

[PrecisionGem]

Sure, if I was professionally printing the pictures. But why bother if I'm just sending them to only be viewed on other people's phones? Although I will say you have a point with a zoom lens, that's why I can't wait for a periscope lens phone. But other than wishing I had more zoom I don't really see the point of lugging around another kit of electronics. Plus it doesn't resolve the issue of video, which is mainly what I use. I'm definitely not going to lug around a pro camera and a video cam.

Almost every digital camera also shoots video. You could look into the Olympus 4/3 systems, they are substantially smaller and the lenses much smaller than full frame DSL or mirror less full frame. You could fit the camera with a telephoto lens in your jacket pocket.

 

[wordup60]

Was it that in those countries there was a charge for sending an text message, and services such as What'sApp were free? The only people I ever get a text message from What'sApp are customers outside of the US and people outside the US trying to sell me something. I mostly ignore anything coming in to What'sApp.

Text messages were effectively free, but nobody used them. Funnily enough I'm exactly the opposite of you. I read everything on WhatsApp and ignore texts, other than when I'm expecting a OTP.

 

[lartola]

Regarding your business model, this is exactly what all cloud storage providers do. It's the same with Apple, Microsoft, AWS, Azure, everything. If you want cloud storage it costs money.

Yes storage has to cost money, but what doesn’t have to happen is that the providers press hard on the users or trick them into paying for cloud storage. Examples: Google uses the same storage for email and other things so it fills up sooner and users have to pay for cloud storage. Apple doesn’t put a SD card slots on its devices, charges a hefty premium for devices with more storage capacity and most prominently features the option to buy icloud storage when a user runs out of local on-device storage.

There’s nothing wrong with charging for storage, but there’s everything wrong with cornering the end users so they have no choice but to pay for cloud storage. The latter is an outrageous abuse on the end users.

 

[jlc1978]

There’s nothing with charging for storage, but there’s everything wrong with cornering the end users so they have no choice but to pay for cliud storage. The latter is an outrageous abuse on the end users.

Alternatively, users can offload stuff, to clear up space, to a Mac or PC and not have space problems. I know folks who have everything they ever received, photo, etc. on their phone and claim they need more space.

 

[Rainbow Apple]

Alternatively, users can offload stuff, to clear up space, to a Mac or PC and not have space problems. I know folks who have everything they ever received, photo, etc. on their phone and claim they need more space.

It's true, there are options optopns other than iCloud. But by removing the SD card reader, Apple's making it neadlessly duffcuult to use local storage insted of iCloud! And remeber, not eveyone comuter-savy. Not everyone's going to be able to handle putting uploading files onto a desktop or laptop computer. Not everyone even has a desktop or laptop computer!

And it's not like it's just SD cards. Apple's also removed headphone jacks and phiscal SIM cards. Someone at Apple is desperate to sabotage the iPhone!

 

[Student of Life]

It makes sense and right or wrong it does weed people out. With iCloud your phone number is tied to the account. That in itself is a security measure. With Android or any non iPhone, you get a green bubble. Thats where google voice and burner numbers come in. It would be cost prohibitive for a scammer to do things with an iPhone since its tied into the iCloud account.

So for example let’s put this to use in the dating world. If you have a green bubble odds are the number is a burner / google number which means you are not serious or hiding something. If it shows up with iCloud it’s harder to scam/cheat people because it’s tied to your account. Thats why many girls will automatically reject someone if they have a green bubble, its not worth the time or effort for them. Thats where the stigma comes in. In the Android world you dont have that security, that skin in the game with your phone number etc. Im not saying its impossible to scam/cheat with an iPhone iCloud account but its exponentially harder since its tied to your account.

 

[Rainbow Apple]

If you have a green bubble odds are the number is a burner / google number which means you are not serious or hiding something.

Why would that be? Aern't there far more people with Android phones, then there are people who use burner / google numbers?

 

[Roadstar]

It makes sense and right or wrong it does weed people out. With iCloud your phone number is tied to the account. That in itself is a security measure. With Android or any non iPhone, you get a green bubble. Thats where google voice and burner numbers come in. It would be cost prohibitive for a scammer to do things with an iPhone since its tied into the iCloud account.

How exactly it would be cost prohibitive? It takes maybe a minute to register a burner iCloud account.

 

[jlc1978]

It's true, there are options optopns other than iCloud. But by removing the SD card reader, Apple's making it neadlessly duffcuult to use local storage insted of iCloud! And remeber, not eveyone comuter-savy. Not everyone's going to be able to handle putting uploading files onto a desktop or laptop computer. Not everyone even has a desktop or laptop computer!

And it's not like it's just SD cards. Apple's also removed headphone jacks and phiscal SIM cards. Someone at Apple is desperate to sabotage the iPhone!

Nah, just design choices. The iPhone never had an SD card capability, Bluetooth removed the head for a jack although you can still connect one via the port, and eSINM is the future for all phones.

 

[lartola]

Alternatively, users can offload stuff, to clear up space, to a Mac or PC and not have space problems. I know folks who have everything they ever received, photo, etc. on their phone and claim they need more space.

I know, but the companies still play dirty tricks on the users. Apple, for example, shows an alert when a user runs out of space that suggests to buy more icloud storage as the first option to solve the problem, more prominently and before suggesting the options to offload apps or delete old/unneeded items.

 

[Rainbow Apple]

Nah, just design choices. The iPhone never had an SD card capability, Bluetooth removed the head for a jack although you can still connect one via the port, and eSINM is the future for all phones.

I strongly disagree, for three reasions:

#1: Just because we have eSIM cards and bluetooth, dosen't mean pSIM (phisical SIM) cards and wired headphons are obsolete! It's good that the iPhone had bluetooth and eSIM, but it's bad that the iPhone removed pSIM and the headphone jack.

#2: I don't like your "the future" adatude. New technologies are not automaticly better than old (conversly, old technologies are not automaticly better than new). PSIMs and eSIMs are diffient tools. For some people, the pSIM is the proper tool. For others, the eSIM is the proper tool. There's nothing wrong with that, different people have diffient use cases.

#3: If Apple included headphone jacks and an SD card reader, fewer people would buy AirPods and iCloud. As @lartola said, it's a marketing trick.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that iPhones are all bad. I have an iPhone for a reasion! As someone with an iPhone and two Android tablets, I know that there are atvantiges and disadvantages to both systems.

 

[Student of Life]

How exactly it would be cost prohibitive? It takes maybe a minute to register a burner iCloud account.

I think you are confusing a burner iCloud account with a phone number. The phone number needs to be connected to the account to work, that means either a physical sim or esim which do take time money and can be tracked. Again it's not impossible just more hurdles and time would be needed to constantly be changing ones iPhone number which again will raise suspicion. Thats not a worry or concern with android and green dots. Simple example, you meet a person girl/boy, you give them your phone number, you dont go hey here is my iCloud account. That number is tied to your account.

 

[Roadstar]

I think you are confusing a burner iCloud account with a phone number. The phone number needs to be connected to the account to work, that means either a physical sim or esim which do take time money and can be tracked. Again it's not impossible just more hurdles and time would be needed to constantly be changing ones iPhone number which again will raise suspicion. Thats not a worry or concern with android and green dots. Simple example, you meet a person girl/boy, you give them your phone number, you dont go hey here is my iCloud account. That number is tied to your account.

Well SMS/WhatsApp/etc are also tied to a phone number which is required for them to work, so I can't really see how this connection being tied to iCloud instead would make it any more secure and/or trustworthy.

 

[Abazigal]

#3: If Apple included headphone jacks and an SD card reader, fewer people would buy AirPods and iCloud. As @lartola said, it's a marketing trick.

The iPhone has been missing an sd-card slot for far long than iCloud has been around, so I feel it's disingenuous to claim that Apple is doing this solely to upsell users on cloud storage.

I am still of the opinion that this is the right explanation for the iPhone being designed the way it is (with regards to no expandable storage or removable batteries at least).

https://www.reddit.com/r/answers/comments/11omha/_/c6ob22f

 

[The Game 161]

embarrassing this is still happening in 2023. Seems to be a US only problem though.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

embarrassing this is still happening in 2023. Seems to be a US only problem though.

It does seem to be. I was at the Harry Potter studio yesterday and there were hundreds of Gen X using Androids, but then Android is the more popular phone platform here in Europe. Seems rather sad the same generation in the US feel peer pressure to only use iPhones due to some ridiculous fashion victim mentality. Yet another pressure that is the cooking pot of being a young American it seems.

 

[Roadstar]

It does seem to be. I was at the Harry Potter studio yesterday and there were hundreds of Gen X using Androids, but then Android is the more popular phone platform here in Europe. Seems rather sad the same generation in the US feel peer pressure to only use iPhones due to some ridiculous fashion victim mentality. Yet another pressure that is the cooking pot of being a young American it seems.

It would be nice to know the timeframe in which the trend mentioned at the end of the article was discovered, i.e. was it before the latest currency conversion price hike or after. Especially if there's that rumored "real" price increase with the iPhone 15 series, European prices would reach rather ridiculous levels. Not the best possible premise for increasing market share.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It would be nice to know the timeframe in which the trend mentioned at the end of the article was discovered, i.e. was it before the latest currency conversion price hike or after. Especially if there's that rumored "real" price increase with the iPhone 15 series, European prices would reach rather ridiculous levels. Not the best possible premise for increasing market share.

That’s an interesting point. The last 12 months must be changing certain trends to some degree as prices are rocketing up. In my circles (not Gen X necessarily) I am noticing people who I have always known as iPhone users suddenly using Androids. The reason is usually that they fancied trying something different or they got a better deal through the carrier. The US didn’t get the price hikes we did this time around, so if the 15 gets a $200+ increase this September, I wonder if Android will suddenly become a viable option over there like it always has been in Europe?

 

[Danfango]

Yes storage has to cost money, but what doesn’t have to happen is that the providers press hard on the users or trick them into paying for cloud storage. Examples: Google uses the same storage for email and other things so it fills up sooner and users have to pay for cloud storage. Apple doesn’t put a SD card slots on its devices, charges a hefty premium for devices with more storage capacity and most prominently features the option to buy icloud storage when a user runs out of local on-device storage.

There’s nothing wrong with charging for storage, but there’s everything wrong with cornering the end users so they have no choice but to pay for cloud storage. The latter is an outrageous abuse on the end users.

Are you suggesting that emails don’t take up any space? My company mailbox on O365 is about 80Gb. Emails have attachments and resources embedded in them.

You’re whining about not getting something for free that costs a business money.

As for SD slots I don’t want anything SD related as a data storage mechanism in any of my devices. Reason I went with apple in the end was that incident where Android decided to destroy my SD card and I lost a lot of photos on a holiday.

I would appreciate larger baseline storage though. In 2023, 256Gb should be bottom end on a phone.

 

[JayMac562]

How often do they upgrade though. That will be the real challenge. I think I’ll keep using my 12 PM another year. iOS has remained basically the same, Apps don’t suddenly work differently on a newer device. I am not saying this is a bad thing from a consumer level, it just shows that it’s „good enough“.

Maybe it’s also an age thing, I used to be so obsessed having the latest and greatest. Now I honestly don’t even know what Apple Watch number we r up to by now. 9?

Age thing? Could’ve fooled me. I thought you’d be a 15 yo something with that Bad Bunny pfp.

 

[jlc1978]

I strongly disagree, for three reasions:

#1: Just because we have eSIM cards and bluetooth, dosen't mean pSIM (phisical SIM) cards and wired headphons are obsolete! It's good that the iPhone had bluetooth and eSIM, but it's bad that the iPhone removed pSIM and the headphone jack.

Apple hasn't eliminated the ability to use a wired headphone; you merely need to plug a dongle into the Lightening port.

From a design perspective, eSim makes it possible to have better structural integrity and saves space. For the user, it allows multiple SIM cards as well as the ability to active a plan without having to go to a store or get a SIM card in the mail. I bet 90%+ users never have an issue with eSIMs.

#2: I don't like your "the future" adatude. New technologies are not automaticly better than old (conversly, old technologies are not automaticly better than new). PSIMs and eSIMs are diffient tools. For some people, the pSIM is the proper tool. For others, the eSIM is the proper tool. There's nothing wrong with that, different people have diffient use cases.

I agree, different people have different needs. However, from a manufacturing perspective, if the gains of a choice outweigh the potential lost sales then you make the change. For most users, the loss of a SIM card will have no negative impact.

I would not be surprised if carriers pushed for eSIMs since it saves them money by not having to stock and ship SIM cards. I can also see the day carriers send out mass promotions, as eSIMS become the norm, with a QR code that says "Try us for x days for free..." as marketting campaigns; since they have already used them for such promotions on a more limited basis.

#3: If Apple included headphone jacks and an SD card reader, fewer people would buy AirPods and iCloud. As As @lartola said, it's a marketing trick.

iPhones and iPods before that, never had an SD card reader, so the iCloud argument is irrelevant. But if ou want to consider its impact, it likely would increase demand for iCloud storage since iCloud is a backup and synch service; increased storage via an SD card would only increase demand for space to synch and backup.

Bluetooth was becoming the standard for headphones long before Apple removed the headphone jacks. People do not like the cord and its limitations when using the device, such as being able to leave your phone on a desk or in a briefcase and still listen to music, answer calls while you walk around. If wired headphoones were still popular you'd see a lot more attached to iPhones via a dongle.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that iPhones are all bad. I have an iPhone for a reasion! As someone with an iPhone and two Android tablets, I know that there are atvantiges and disadvantages to both systems.

Sure, all systems have pros and cons and you should buy what meets your needs.

Do I like all of Apple's design choices? No, but I can see why they made them.

 

[jlc1978]

Are you suggesting that emails don’t take up any space? My company mailbox on O365 is about 80Gb. Emails have attachments and resources embedded in them.

Only 80GB? You must delete a lot...

As for SD slots I don’t want anything SD related as a data storage mechanism in any of my devices. Reason I went with apple in the end was that incident where Android decided to destroy my SD card and I lost a lot of photos on a holiday.

Same here. I use an SD card in my MBP for backup and they seem to fail regularly. They really doen't seem to hod up well to constant read/writes; and I only buy name brand cards, not cheap off brands.

I would appreciate larger baseline storage though. In 2023, 256Gb should be bottom end on a phone.

That would be nice. I suspect as photo size increases so will the base storage; with companies analyzing sales trends around storage and adjusting accordingly.

 

[lartola]

Are you suggesting that emails don’t take up any space? My company mailbox on O365 is about 80Gb. Emails have attachments and resources embedded in them.

You’re whining about not getting something for free that costs a business money.

As for SD slots I don’t want anything SD related as a data storage mechanism in any of my devices. Reason I went with apple in the end was that incident where Android decided to destroy my SD card and I lost a lot of photos on a holiday.

I would appreciate larger baseline storage though. In 2023, 256Gb should be bottom end on a phone.

No, my complaint is about being pressed to pay for cloud storage by not being offered other alternatives such as external physical storage. That’s a dirty trick played by companies.

 

[compwiz1202]

It makes sense and right or wrong it does weed people out. With iCloud your phone number is tied to the account. That in itself is a security measure. With Android or any non iPhone, you get a green bubble. Thats where google voice and burner numbers come in. It would be cost prohibitive for a scammer to do things with an iPhone since its tied into the iCloud account.

So for example let’s put this to use in the dating world. If you have a green bubble odds are the number is a burner / google number which means you are not serious or hiding something. If it shows up with iCloud it’s harder to scam/cheat people because it’s tied to your account. Thats why many girls will automatically reject someone if they have a green bubble, its not worth the time or effort for them. Thats where the stigma comes in. In the Android world you dont have that security, that skin in the game with your phone number etc. Im not saying its impossible to scam/cheat with an iPhone iCloud account but its exponentially harder since its tied to your account.

I'd rather be green then so I can instanly weed out the ones who judge you on a phone/bubble color. Good thing I don't have to deal with all that immaturity anymore.

 

[I7guy]

No, my complaint is about being pressed to pay for cloud storage by not being offered other alternatives such as external physical storage. That’s a dirty trick played by companies.

If time is money at least for some people, and speaking for me, it was cheaper to buy more icloud storage than reduce what I'm backing up.