Is it just the iPhone or are Android devices even worse?

[killhippie]

I think you’re exaggerating here a bit. You make it sound like Apple phones are about to die off, that they offer nothing of significance to the consumer, that AI won’t become a key feature the way Apple wants and it’s a “disaster”. Samsung is doing everything better. You could be right of course but I’m not putting any money on any of it.

I'm not saying they will die off but they will stagnate and Apple almost came unstuck once before, now they are in a better position but must cut costs somewhere. I think quality will go down and Soc innovation due to apples supply chain and Trumps (in my view) barmy tariffs clash and India had a lot of iPhones rejected last year due to QC issues. The last thing I want to see is them suffer more issues, but Tim knew this was coming.

Trump cant make a flat pack dinner mat let alone understand the complexities of a phone, and if the iPhone is built in the states its going to cost consumers already struggling with other costs rising a fortune, and a long time to set up those plants which may use more robots I bet. Apple will survive this but expect cost cutting measures, like cheaper internal components, no anti reflective screen with less glare like the S25 has from Corning. more Aluminium not stainless or titanium, and sitting at the slow end of the 3nm upgrade line not the leap to 2nm for a while, Apple are not buying all the 2nm viable chips like they did with 3nm this year are they?

Its time for people to see what $1200 plus really buys them phone wise, while the companies not effected by the tariff war to such a huge extent will lead with better better hardware, heck they already are, its just not for sale in the west and can you blame them?

 

[turbineseaplane]

They do have a mode for that: https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/set-up-assistive-access-devcd5016d31/ios

This is woefully inadequate, unfortunately

I tried to do this for my almost 90 year old relative and they were just too many weird restrictions, especially in messages.

 

[redcarian]

Whilst other manufacturers like Samsung have, more-or-less, mostly caught up with Apple in terms of manufacturing fit and finish, there are areas where they lag far, far behind. I think the two most notable are ecosystem integration and out-of-the-box experience.

I had a Samsung Note 9 back in the day, and to go with it, I got a Gear S3 Frontier watch. The watch itself was very good, and the rotating bezel is a fantastic bit of UI. But the pairing and setup and update processes? Oof, absolute bin fire. Will the phone see the watch? Will the watch see the phone? Will they see each other long enough to initiate and complete the pairing process? Tune in next week to find out!

The way a pair of Airpods pair once with one of your devices (again, a process easier on iPhone than elsewhere) and then follow you around between your devices is, as far as I know, unparalleled.

Apple doesn’t have anything to worry about in the foreseeable future re: iPhone sales. There’s a huge amount of friction in moving between Android and Apple, covering personal preference, muscle memory, ecosystem integration, the fact you’ve got magsafe all over your house now, etc. Sure, a given fancy Android phone may well have better technical specifications than its competitor iPhone, but where do the photos go? Into Google’s gallery app? Into Samsung’s? Does Oppo have their own, too?

Yeah, there’s less choice on iPhone. But sometimes a little less choice can mean a lot more user enjoyment.

 

[HouseLannister]

 

[TgeekB]

I'm not saying they will die off but they will stagnate and Apple almost came unstuck once before, now they are in a better position but must cut costs somewhere. I think quality will go down and Soc innovation due to apples supply chain and Trumps (in my view) barmy tariffs clash and India had a lot of iPhones rejected last year due to QC issues. The last thing I want to see is them suffer more issues, but Tim knew this was coming.

Trump cant make a flat pack dinner mat let alone understand the complexities of a phone, and if the iPhone is built in the states its going to cost consumers already struggling with other costs rising a fortune, and a long time to set up those plants which may use more robots I bet. Apple will survive this but expect cost cutting measures, like cheaper internal components, no anti reflective screen with less glare like the S25 has from Corning. more Aluminium not stainless or titanium, and sitting at the slow end of the 3nm upgrade line not the leap to 2nm for a while, Apple are not buying all the 2nm viable chips like they did with 3nm this year are they?

Its time for people to see what $1200 plus really buys them phone wise, while the companies not effected by the tariff war to such a huge extent will lead with better better hardware, heck they already are, its just not for sale in the west and can you blame them?

I agree with your perspective regarding tariffs, etc. but doubt iPhones will ever be made in the states. Tim is good at working through these issues and will find ways to keep costs in line without negatively affecting the product. Someone will always complain about something but the current devices get the job done extremely well. It’s more about the OS and ecosystem than it is about the hardware at this point.

 

[TgeekB]

Whilst other manufacturers like Samsung have, more-or-less, mostly caught up with Apple in terms of manufacturing fit and finish, there are areas where they lag far, far behind. I think the two most notable are ecosystem integration and out-of-the-box experience.

I had a Samsung Note 9 back in the day, and to go with it, I got a Gear S3 Frontier watch. The watch itself was very good, and the rotating bezel is a fantastic bit of UI. But the pairing and setup and update processes? Oof, absolute bin fire. Will the phone see the watch? Will the watch see the phone? Will they see each other long enough to initiate and complete the pairing process? Tune in next week to find out!

The way a pair of Airpods pair once with one of your devices (again, a process easier on iPhone than elsewhere) and then follow you around between your devices is, as far as I know, unparalleled.

Apple doesn’t have anything to worry about in the foreseeable future re: iPhone sales. There’s a huge amount of friction in moving between Android and Apple, covering personal preference, muscle memory, ecosystem integration, the fact you’ve got magsafe all over your house now, etc. Sure, a given fancy Android phone may well have better technical specifications than its competitor iPhone, but where do the photos go? Into Google’s gallery app? Into Samsung’s? Does Oppo have their own, too?

Yeah, there’s less choice on iPhone. But sometimes a little less choice can mean a lot more user enjoyment.

I completely agree with this perspective.

 

[robvalentine]

Whilst other manufacturers like Samsung have, more-or-less, mostly caught up with Apple in terms of manufacturing fit and finish, there are areas where they lag far, far behind. I think the two most notable are ecosystem integration and out-of-the-box experience.

I had a Samsung Note 9 back in the day, and to go with it, I got a Gear S3 Frontier watch. The watch itself was very good, and the rotating bezel is a fantastic bit of UI. But the pairing and setup and update processes? Oof, absolute bin fire. Will the phone see the watch? Will the watch see the phone? Will they see each other long enough to initiate and complete the pairing process? Tune in next week to find out!

The way a pair of Airpods pair once with one of your devices (again, a process easier on iPhone than elsewhere) and then follow you around between your devices is, as far as I know, unparalleled.

Apple doesn’t have anything to worry about in the foreseeable future re: iPhone sales. There’s a huge amount of friction in moving between Android and Apple, covering personal preference, muscle memory, ecosystem integration, the fact you’ve got magsafe all over your house now, etc. Sure, a given fancy Android phone may well have better technical specifications than its competitor iPhone, but where do the photos go? Into Google’s gallery app? Into Samsung’s? Does Oppo have their own, too?

Yeah, there’s less choice on iPhone. But sometimes a little less choice can mean a lot more user enjoyment.

That second paragraph is out of date, and my pixel buds link to my phone as easily as my airpods did to my iPhone. I'd imagine the watch pairing process has improved significantly (I use a garmin not an Android or Apple watch), so maybe try a more modern phone and watch?

With regards tro friction, my pixel sucked my data out of my iPhone easily enough, and a magsafe case sorted the magsafe issue.

I do wonder if this thread is sponsored by, and contains Apple employees.

 

[killhippie]

I agree with your perspective regarding tariffs, etc. but doubt iPhones will ever be made in the states. Tim is good at working through these issues and will find ways to keep costs in line without negatively affecting the product. Someone will always complain about something but the current devices get the job done extremely well. It’s more about the OS and ecosystem than it is about the hardware at this point.

The 17 is a compromise though, well that’s how I see it. Its cheap it looks it looks it too. It's aluminium no more expensive titanium welding, they removed the more non reflective screen that the S25 has which was promised then pulled shows issues. Apple have dropped Qualcomm early to use either their own C1 or in the Pro's a possible Mediatek chip, these are cost cutting measures here right now.

The C1 modem seems better in the states than in say the UK where I am from but more data to confirm that is needed, but people are seeing a drop in speeds here. Battery tech has stagnated at Apple no new silicon batteries either so far and sticking to 3nm which is unusual so the upgrade over a 16 or 15 wont be all that much I think.
Although I am sure Apple will try to spin that as always.

Okay they are going for 8K video but I dont need 8K video not many do from a phone and 8K I believe is the limit of human vision anyway. I would prefer built in spam and scam detection for phone calls that Android has built in, also we all know that a small sensor with more megapixels is all part the numbers game, as it will require more software processing to deal with the lack of light those pixels bring in. Bigger sensors with less megapixels work better, and Tim was looking at replacing glass lenses with a plastic array of lenses a while back. It's what inside that we cant see as well as outside that makes this a worry. I do agree that we wont see iPhones being built in the US but there is nothing stopping Trump from adding extra tarrifs to India, he was not happy that Apple are shifting production there, as per his comments while in Qatar.

Tim is at the mercy of one man and he can ruin them at every turn. Why, I really don’t know, they make good phones (I wish they thought about the phone part more) and great computers I have bought got a Studio and it flies, a M4 Max 16 core with 40 core GPU and 1TB SSD. I think costs will go up though its going to happen as Apple cannot aborb all the cost hits itself and we may well see a divide across the USA and Europe, tbh this is a huge mess but I dont want to go into the poltics of this, but the phones seem lacklustre these days more so that from other manufacturers and with the issues with AI promises that fell apart, Apple have a long climb ahead of them.

 

[redcarian]

That second paragraph is out of date, and my pixel buds link to my phone as easily as my airpods did to my iPhone. I'd imagine the watch pairing process has improved significantly (I use a garmin not an Android or Apple watch), so maybe try a more modern phone and watch?

So you say it’s out of date (which I acknowledged), but you only imagine the watch pairing process has improved significantly? Well, that’s easy! I imagine it hasn’t.

Do your pixel buds pair with your phone, then, without further action on your part, link to your laptop and your tablet and your watch, seamlessly and automatically?

I have an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and an iPhone 16 Pro Max, so I’m plenty modern, tyvm.

 

[robvalentine]

So you say it’s out of date (which I acknowledged), but you only imagine the watch pairing process has improved significantly? Well, that’s easy! I imagine it hasn’t.

Do your pixel buds pair with your phone, then, without further action on your part, link to your laptop and your tablet and your watch, seamlessly and automatically?

I have an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and an iPhone 16 Pro Max, so I’m plenty modern, tyvm.

here you go

As for headphones, need to pair once, really not hard, then it's all good. It's not the epic struggle that you are implying.
They work fine with my galaxy tab, iPad pro M4(I regret that purchase) windows laptop, and Macbook Pro. I've not used my iPhone enough to warrant pairing them as the ease of navigation and notification management far outweigh saving 10 seconds of pairing, done once. My Pixel 9 Pro XL also seems less buggy once I deleted a rogue app. unlike my iPhone.

The Pixel also plays nicer with non-apple stuff, so I can use higher spec stuff that costs less, and works. An example being my outside Philips hue light, my apple watch ultra 2 (see I had one too) would say I need to download an app to use it when I asked Siri to switch it on or off, so I had to manually navigate to the (apple) home app which was installed and manually toggle it. Google assistant just switches it on or off.

 

[Sophytaylor6@]

I have been using Apple devices for many years. There are chances of improvement regarding the new design, but overall, Apple offers quality to its customers. As far as Android is concerned, the devices also offer features and technology that are much needed. So I don't criticize any of them.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

As an iPhone an Android user since day one. Both have it's issues, but mostly different issues. Just understand that one platform can solve the issues of the other platform, but then you'll be introduced to a whole set of other issues.

Personally, I rarely have any issues on both platform nowadays. But we all use our devices differently.