My long-time Android friends--always fighting their phones, rebooting, unable to reach 5pm without a dead battery, unable to use my favorite apps at all, burning money on a new one every year when the software updates stop coming or the plastic shell cracks--all LOVE them. They assume iPhone has those same problems AND worse, and would never think of switching to evil Apple. They are using no Android-specific benefits (hacking the OS etc.) but they swallow Samsung's ads and blog troll-bait like it's gospel. So they spend way more than I do, and get far less, and think I'm crazy.
It reminds me of the days when Windows users would not consider a Mac specifically BECAUSE Windows was so awful: it made them afraid to switch because they believed the problems were the same on "all computers," and Windows was baffling enough. Why switch to a Mac, unfamiliar and therefore impossible to figure out, AND keep the same malware and crashes as Windows? (In their minds.)
I don't think the Mac situation is the same. I think that Macs had distinct advantages over Win PCs (Macs
are Win PCs too) and in many ways still do. A Mac still has functionality and security built in that is still superior to Windows (trackpad, multitouch implementation, Spaces, UNIX foundation are a few examples). It used to be that they were easy to access internally and upgrade and expand, but even that is going the way of the Buffalo. Thus my last Mac was a 2012 MBP.
In my case, my phone is a more personal device, and as such I like to
personalize it. I want control over it, how it looks, be able to access battery (just because you never know), expand storage, have access to the file system, be less proprietary in general, etc. In other words, I want a pocket-PC.
You can't get that level of customization with Apple. If you don't like the look of iOS, you're stuck. If you bought a low-storage device, you're stuck. If you want to access the filesystem for whatever reason, you're stuck. The list goes on and on.
That's not to say that people are wrong to choose Apple. I was perfectly content for years in the walled garden, when my tastes and Apple's were aligned. If that's the case for you, then you are
right to choose them.
But for me, between the soldering of RAM, proprietary SSDs, the killing of the 17" MBP, and iOS 7's /Yosemite's UI design language, Apple blasted our tastes waaaay out of alignment.
So I chose Android around 2 years ago and have been happy since.
I think that your statement is reversed: that many Apple users think that Android is wrought with problems and are afraid to give it a whirl.
I know I was, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I was wrong. Android is just as capable, and in many ways, more so than iOS. So you don't need to stay with Apple out of fear, you should stay because it "tastes" good.
