Apple's Popularity With Gen Z Poses Challenges for Android

[twolf2919]

Metrics that you just made up and can’t prove. It must be because it has to be, got it.

Oh, come on. It's a well known fact that iPhone penetration in the US and other markets has been climbing. For the US, it used to be below 40%, now it's above 50% (60%?) In the rest of the world, Android used to be in the 80-90% range, now it's not. One doesn't have to be that good with google to substantiate that, instead stating another poster is making up metrics.
Similarly, it's not too hard to find articles that state that Apple's iPhone is pretty much hovering up all the high-end smartphone profits. Here's a quick google result: https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...al-smartphone-profits-and-the-lead-is-growing

 

[compwiz1202]

The amount of pediatric psychs in my ER supports your comment. We are living in pathetic times. So glad I graduated high school in the mid-2000s before the dawn of smartphones.

"Everyone is trying to keep up with the Jones', but what they don't know is that the Jones' are broke!"

Exactly, no one cares about your stuff because of what it is. They only because it's expensive. But you hit the nail on the head. Those people have no true financial status. They are buried in debt. The ones with the SEs and low end Android probably have loads of net worth because they don't buy everything they want. And those are the ones I like most because they keep prices down.

 

[coffeemilktea]

Yeah, this is one of the problems with Google as a company.

They fail to keep up a consistent brand.

Google can't just come up with a product and continue to maintain and improve it incrementally. They have to tear everything down every few years and start from scratch with a new name and completely different interface. PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE THIS.

Look at iMessage. It's still called iMessage, and has had incremental improvements since it came out. No rename, no big makeovers.

Same deal with the various iCloud services.

There's one exception, "Music", which I think was a huge mistake; everyone knew what iTunes was and it was a beloved brand, I think it would have made more sense to rename Music on the iPhone to iTunes, rather than rename iTunes on the desktop to Music. BUT STILL, it was only a name change, the underlying service stayed exactly the same and you didn't have to uproot everything to migrate.

Google needs to knock it off and maintain consistent services and start building the trust they lost by behaving the way they have. Nobody likes to have their world shuffled around every few years.

Google used to be such an exciting company with all sorts of great products, and over the years they've consistently mis-managed most of those products into the ground: Inbox, Google Music, Hangouts, etc., etc.

Now they're making Fuchsia, which seems like an attempt to phase out both Android and ChromeOS with some new thing that will also eventually be replaced.

 

[FFabian]

Oh, come on. It's a well known fact that iPhone penetration in the US and other markets has been climbing. For the US, it used to be below 40%, now it's above 50% (60%?) In the rest of the world, Android used to be in the 80-90% range, now it's not. One doesn't have to be that good with google to substantiate that, instead stating another poster is making up metrics.
Similarly, it's not too hard to find articles that state that Apple's iPhone is pretty much hovering up all the high-end smartphone profits. Here's a quick google result: https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/09/29/apple-continuing-command-of-global-smartphone-profits-and-the-lead-is-growing

The poster I originally replied to was talking about his anecdotal experience of iPhone prevalence in Germany. Currently Android has twice the market share compared to Apple in Germany. Apples market share may or may not rise but the current situation is clear: Android is dominant in Germany. Arguing who has what kind of profit is a straw man.

 

[fourthtunz]

While I don't disagree with you, I also feel Apple has some sort of social responsibility. Personally my belief is that a large chunk of what is wrong in the world today is exactly this corporate direction where the ONLY factor to be considered is the fiduciary duty to your shareholders for "maximum profit and margin." No Apple is not the only one to blame here; carriers being greedy and not pushing their RCS implementation, Google being greedy and pushing their own proprietary RCS solution, etc sure deserve part of the blame.

Android already has the larger market share and I'd assume Apple has done calculations as to how much
revenue they'd lose by making iMessage work with android.

Well, they can enjoy their false reality. More power to them! However, judging by the declining mental state of our youth, I'd say this approach isn't working out so well. I prefer to experience actual reality.

Uh oh, now we're getting into deep water.
Reality is so subjective.

 

[danakin]

I use an iPhone 11 (likely moving to a 13 mini this year) but never use iMessage.
A few years ago there was an issue with iMessage not "releasing" a phone number when a user moved from iOS to Android without first switching off iMessage. The courts had to get involved.
I prefer Android to iOS, however, the only small-ish flagship is a 13 mini and I've grown tired of the 11 I got at a good price.
I suppose I'm quite the anomaly; an iPhone user who doesn't use iMessage - the rarest of green bublles

 

[fourthtunz]

I can only comment on American culture as that’s where I live, but yes I can confirm people I’ve met from Europe and Asia are VERY into WhatsApp, which is more or less unused here in the states.

I think it grew in popularity there because of the predatory cell service providers who would regularly charge exorbitant fees for international SMS, which isn’t so much of a problem for us. So WhatsApp got a very strong foothold early on, and it’s an established thing there now. It’s a shame Google dropped the ball on making their own non-SMS messaging service, at this point it might be too little too late for it to gain any popularity in the US when iMessage has been around for well over a decade.

and Apple and iMessage are more secure, or at least that's what we believe

 

[johnsolo]

hopefully these gen z people will become a new generation of aapl stock holders

I’m Gen Z and a proud owner of 5 shares of AAPL

 

[macdisciple]

Thirteen years ago when I started working on a state college campus of 25k+ students I would notice a near mix of PC and Mac laptops in the campus' Starbucks. Nowadays 4 of 5 seem to be Macbook Airs or Pros. When I visit the parents' FB group for students at the school, about 4 of 5 parents respond their kid has a Mac when another parent asks what type of computer their kid needs. I saw a news article a month or so back indicating a significant number of new-hires are asking for Macs these days in the workplace as well.

 

[macdisciple]

I’m Gen Z and a proud owner of 5 shares of AAPL

I buy one share a month. I kinda hope the stock stays flat for a while longer.

 

[anthogag]

What? You are spending 24 hours continuously opening apps? Yeah you deserve those extra 17 years to catch up.

No, you whole day is 20% faster because you have iPhone.

 

[Radon87000]

It's only in the US and not the rest of the world. Apple can have the US market. The rest of the world is with Android.

 

[fourthtunz]

Sounds like those users circumvented the system Google has in place for securing apps, similar to how a jailbroken iPhone can be compromised. It also sounds very similar to Apple users proclaiming how unsafe Windows PC's are. Maybe both are true to a certain extent, but in reality it's much less of an issue. Certainly in my 15+ years of using Android and close to 30 years using Windows I've never had any issues, but take that with a grain of salt as an anecdotal experience only. My point is that saying Android sucks because your third cousin on your wife's sides co-workers dog walker's hairdresser got a virus on their Android device doesn't really pan out in the real world.

It pans out with my friends that use PCs and androids.
My android friends have troubles all the time getting hacked or talking on their phone and then
getting an ad for what they were just talking about.
What about pc updates? right in the middle of your workday?
MY friends are intelligent but they have these problems in the real world.

 

[twolf2919]

While I don't disagree with you, I also feel Apple has some sort of social responsibility. Personally my belief is that a large chunk of what is wrong in the world today is exactly this corporate direction where the ONLY factor to be considered is the fiduciary duty to your shareholders for "maximum profit and margin." No Apple is not the only one to blame here; carriers being greedy and not pushing their RCS implementation, Google being greedy and pushing their own proprietary RCS solution, etc sure deserve part of the blame.

As soon as feelings come into the picture, there is subjectiveness. Maximizing shareholder value is already a pretty nebulous goal for a company to follow. What level of 'social responsibility' should Apple carry? And why should Apple (and Google, and telecoms) be singled out for not being socially responsible enough? Why shouldn't Panera make their Green Goddess salad 50% cheaper so poor folk can afford to eat healthy?

The way to affect social change is via government legislation, not by trying to shame companies into doing the right thing. With respect to technology, the problem we have in this country - and probably others as well - is that the legislators are a bunch of old white men who don't know anything about technology and who legislate based on personal agendas rather than what's best for the society.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

I could never understand people who spend money they don't have on things they don't need just to impress people they don't like.

 

[dandyryan]

❌ airdrop?
❌ facetime?
❌ group chats that don't break?
❌ OS updates after 2-3 years?
✅ poor taste

android lovers: *wastes $2000 to be a green bubble and complains about how gen z doesnt use them too*
🤣

 

[jimbobb24]

"According to the report, younger consumers are concerned about being socially ostracized for not having an iPhone". What a sad, sad world we live in.

I know. It should be a much worse punishment if you send one of those green bubbles in group chat😂.

Most these preferences will fade as people get jobs. College students have a high percentage of max laptops but it doesn’t continue when they get jobs and start buying stuff because the expense is real. My kids prefer lots of expensive stuff they are not going to own for 20 years.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I’m “of a certain age” where a LOT of my peers have Android. But yeah, iPhone seems ubiquitous among the younger crowd.

 

[fourthtunz]

Eh, most people just stick with the most comfortable and familiar thing. Most people don’t care enough about the customizability of Android. If they grew up with Macs and iOS devices, there will need to be an eye opening moment that convinces them to switch over.

You may be right. Most of my friends with android do not have a pc, and if they do, they do not seem to
use them together. and for me that is the best part of Apple, the ecosystem,
My watch, my iPad,my iPhone are all linked. And they seem more secure to my but how do I know?
I saw the movie on google, that was enough for me

 

[jimbobb24]

Why do people in the US not use WhatsApp, like everyone in Europe does ( it is more secure, has more features, is easier to use, and works across all platforms)? Or Snapchat if you are a child? So odd.

And what's does "blue bubble" mean? All messages I receive from other iPhone users are grey, same as messages from Android. Its only messages I send to Android that are green, but why would that bother anyone?

I use WhatsApp and it’s a piece of garbage. I just wish they would copy iMessage faster and make it a mature messaging app instead of borderline orphan software.

 

[platinumaqua]

Cue the non-Americans chiming in about how they're using a third party messaging system. (nothing wrong with that, just something I noticed on every post about iMessage)

Being tied to Apple because of iMessage is already "bad", but I don't think the alternative of needing to rely on a Facebook product is better

 

[5580463]

Young people have always found ways to ostracize each other. This isn’t new when I was growing up it was mostly about what designer clothes you wore

It was $400 dsquared jeans when I was in high school. They had that small red label around the crotch area so you could instantly tell who was cool or not.

 

[philstubbington]

Interesting social dilemma for Apple, figure out how to make iMessage universal or focus on profits. I try to teach my kids to not blindly follow, but even I will admit it's pretty damn hard when you can't communicate well with an iPhone user when you have an Android phone.

Not really - there’s a bunch of apps (WhatsApp, telegram, etc.). That covers 100% of my needs outside the iMessage world.

 

[wilhoitm]

"According to the report, younger consumers are concerned about being socially ostracized for not having an iPhone". What a sad, sad world we live in.

That is not sad! Why would you waste your time and money on an Android phone! They are as bad as Microsoft Windows! Microsoft does not care or know what User Experience is and Google has trouble with the usability of their products also. If you want to blame someone blame Google and Microsoft for making inferior products!

 

[fourthtunz]

It's only in the US and not the rest of the world. Apple can have the US market. The rest of the world is with Android.

I think Apple and their shareholders are ok with that, as they take 90% of the profits.
Wish I had some Apple stock!