(unpaywalled version on archive.today: https://archive.ph/03cwZ)
Interesting figure that comes out of the article: 87% of US teens prefer iPhones. Also the explanations given aren’t quite surprising, I guess it’s mostly because of iMessage. Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles.
It’s actually hilarious how we allowed consumerism to take us this far and that we have now peer pressure over smartphones.
“You’re telling me in 2023, you still have a ’Droid? […] You gotta be at least 50 years old.”
ouch 😔
I think that is mostly a US thing, as I see way more Androids in Europe than iPhones. But I could be wrong
Yeah, it’s definitely a Yank thing.
Yep. Primary chat protocol is still SMS. The general population hasn’t latched on to WhatsApp or others like many countries have.
I really struggle with switching stuff to WhatsApp just because it’s Facebook. But yeah, every time I go to another country I end up having to download it for something.
fuck whatsapp
Get signal instead
say that to my entire country
Can you try Signal in those cases? If you tell people “I’d rather not use Facebook stuff if possible, can we try Signal” there’s a good chance they either have it installed too or are willing to throw it on.
I’d take SMS over Facebook any day.
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We like to think that but if you want to reach people who are on Whatsapp you’re gonna have to install Whatsapp. And the other way around, if people have a group for whatever (plan a group outing, kids’ soccer team, tenants’ association etc.) on Whatsapp and one person is not on Whatsapp, tough luck buddy, they get left out.
Apple framed it as an “iPhone vs Android” issue for their own reasons but the larger issue (social network peer pressure) is very much a thing in Europe too.
And it’s so outdated too. The iPhone was a “cool” status symbol in like 2010 and 2014. Not so much when everyone has them.
I thought that time period was more a Blackberry thing, and to a lesser extent the Sony Xperia and Galaxy series was taking off
Nah, since 2007 when the iPhone came out everyone had to have one. Then the 2nd model had GPS and apps in 2008 and blew the doors wide open. By 2010 HTC was releasing phones like the incredible and the “droid” moniker was in full swing - with Apple consistently mopping the floor.
I’d say iPhone fervor kind of died down around 2010 actually.
100%, I’ve lived both in the US and Europe, and Androids are definitely more prevalent in Europe than in the US.
Judging by the amount of times I hear the same ringtone as mine, I think where I live in the UK is about 70-80% Samsung Android phones.
I live in Brazil and don’t know many people with iPhones, most have Android phones
Definitely not in Germany, I think. People here are obsessed with apple. But im not native German, so maybe im wrong.
Idk, I see plenty of both, and most people I know are capable of having objective discussions about it.
Objective discussions about why apple is better?
sigh