Nearly 9 in 10 US teenagers use an iPhone, spelling disaster for Google’s mobile future

  • the_q@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Teens are more susceptible to marketing and peer pressure. It’s not their fault or anything it’s just their brains aren’t finished cooking and these companies take advantage of that.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, there’s the whole green vs blue chat bubbles thing too. They’ll leave people with Android phones out of the group chat, which isn’t exactly great for your social life at school.

    • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Their parents are to blame too. You shouldn’t be giving a kid everything it wants. How the fuck would a kid find the money to buy such expensive trash anyway?

      • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        When my newborn daughter turns 12 or 13, she’s getting a dumb phone. She needs to be able to call and text her family, that’s it. Then she can go through the stages that I went through of dumb phone to slightly better dumb phone to low-tier smartphone to flagship as she gets to be 18. At that point then, she’ll be old enough to buy it with her own job money

    • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Yes - right now. If 87% of teens in the US have iPhones, what do you think will happen to that stat in the US and then the world, where people copy-paste US trends to feel wealthy or cool (even adults)?

      • yata@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        The subheading does specify that is in the US. And in the main text of the article, the very first line in fact, it mentions that Android has the largest market share worldwide.

        • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Makes sense to include mentions that this is about the US in the Lemmy post. US is not the default

    • V ‎ ‎ @beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      How much of that split is among the 3rd world and over 25s? Demographics matter, and paint a very different picture.

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Guys, should an essential device be “cool”? It doesn’t hurt, don’t get me wrong… But is it a good reason to buy a device you need?

    Buy this shit because it works, not because it’s cool. Android lets you do more, so I own one. That’s it. Fuck Google, I just want to install third party apps.

    • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      These are teenagers. Buying anything is done under the consideration of how cool it is. Literally everything else is not important during consideration, what matters is having the thing that makes you socially accepted.

      If old school cell phones with monochrome pixel displays and zero functionalities beyond telephone and sms were trending, instead of just being a niche for people fed up with social media, kids would buy that in a heartbeat.

      You probably forgot how overwhelmingly important social status and belonging to a group is at that age.

      • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Classmate once rocked up with that new thing called „iPhone“ and was the coolest kid on the block. Then I took out my Siemens M35 and showed them my swappable front covers, and said that each week I would put a different one on.

        Suddenly this ancient brick was cooler than an iPhone.

        Kids and teens are very easily convinced that something is cool

  • einfach_orangensaft@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    americans just love the golden cage, also apple puts more into ads than lobbyists during a presidential election campain

    • anti-idpol action@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Yeah they did a very clever thing for the past decade or so, by slapping their illuminated logo onto their laptops, then aggressively contracting TV studios to have the actors use Macs

  • Virtual Insanity @lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    They both suck. I wish my phone was like a PC and I could install whatever OS I wanted.

    Now we live in a day where if you deviate from the manufactures installed OS you get no hardware or warranty support.

    Imagine Dell refusing warranty if you installed Linux on a server.

    I lean slightly to Android, but an not happy with Google’s bullshit tricks with their phones, not the bloat and bullshit on a Samsung phone.

    I’ll be looking for an alternative soon… But there isn’t much it there if you want an affordable near flagship.

    • Omgpwnies@lemmy.ninja
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      1 year ago

      Imagine Dell refusing warranty if you installed Linux on a server.

      If you install Linux on an OEM PC, you will be denied service until you put Windows back on. Mentioning a server isn’t a fair comparison.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I know Microsoft isn’t a very good alternative as a company, but I do wish Windows Phone had taken off better.

      At least it would have been some competition to the Duopoly we now have.

      • computertoucher5000@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        I do wish Windows Phone had taken off better.

        I had a job once that issued me a Nokia Windows phone and I was stunned by how much I actually sort of enjoyed the experience. Granted all I did was check emails, ACK alerts and message coworkers on it, so admittedly a very intentionally on my part pared down user experience. Sadly Windows phone didn’t last long enough to figure out if that was the result of Microsoft, or the result of Nokia.

      • Virtual Insanity @lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Like the other person said… Had a warranty issue with a Samsung a few years ago that kept it out of my hands for a couple of months, bought a cheap and nasty $50 phone that was part of a prepaid package here in Australia, just happened to be a Nokia windows phone. It was about the lowest end model you could get…

        And I too was kinda stunned how much I liked it. I went into the experience with a fairly negative attitude thinking I’d suffer though it until my regular phone was repaired.

        Yet came out looking it more than I’d like to admit.

        So… Yeah… Sounds have been great for windows mobile to stick around.

  • Navarian@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Apple may have a monopoly on teens in the US, but the fact that most android phones are cheaper, more powerful, more customisable and look better, will keep Google in the top spot with android.

    Also, and I realise this is anecdotal, but where I’m from in the UK, having an iPhone stands you out as a bit of a dullard. Wasted money and all that.

  • Hubi@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Why are iPhones so popular in the US compared to Europe? Is it a peer pressure kind of thing? Or simply status? The difference seems to be pretty substantial and I don’t think it can be explained by user experience alone.

    iPhones have a 58% (US) vs 26% (EU) market share.

    • sergih@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      I think it has to do with the messagin app. For some reason in the us it’s still common to use plain sms messages, which on an iPhone get translated to the blue bubble, but when sent to an android become the infamous green bubble.

      This is however not the case in the EU bc sms messages were still expensive enoughfuring that time that when whatsapp released, everyone did the switch so as to not to pay the sms fees, and now, even if sms are basically free, everyone uses whatsapp as the default messaging app.

      And as we know on whatsapp there’s no differentiation of anything regarding the device you are sending messages to, so no constant reminder of “this guy had an android”.

      Just my 2 cents on why this could be.

      • hushable@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        off topic, by any chance are you using Jerboa? ses like your comments is missing some spaces and I suspect it might be a bug with the app

        • sergih@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          Yes! Wow it has to do with the app? I was going crazy, yes when I delete a word it shifts back and joind with the last word, it drives me nuts, are they planning on fixing it? Or do you recommend me another app?

      • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        The blue bubbles mean you’re using iMessage, which is encrypted. You don’t have to download a separate app owned by Facebook which makes texting iPhone to iPhone so much better.

    • IDontHavePantsOn@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      While other commenters are correct about the marketing in some aspects. As a parent of teenagers I will say if they don’t have an iPhone they will be mocked relentlessly. The whole bubble color thing is real. They think androids are for poor people even though androids have a much larger range of price. This isn’t a “my kids” thing. This is a “everyone in school thinks” thing.

      God help me when they get their next upgrade and suddenly my chargers start going missing because “someone stole” theirs…

      • 768@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        They think androids are for poor people

        So it boils down to classism among youths and in schools?

      • sederx@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        this is the same excuse i hear for people circumcising their kids.

        are us people so weak to peer pressure?

    • Jackcooper@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Apple is headquartered in America and used a lot of marketing with celebrities, musicians, trendsetters etc.

      Samsung is really popular in Asia. There’s something to be said for homefield advantage.

    • ALostInquirer@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      What’s the carrier situation like in the EU? Do they market the iPhone aggressively in Europe? I’d suspect both of those may have some influence on the difference, but I’m as interested as you in what’s affecting the differences in adoption between both regions.

    • V ‎ ‎ @beehaw.org
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      RCS has failed to take over the market, creating a strong preference for iMessage. Additionally, iPhones just work. The curated App Store means far less malware and buggy crap apps. Pile on the social aspects and few people under 25 are going for iPhones.

      • Hubi@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        That doesn’t explain the difference in market share. Seems like there are cultural differences.

        • V ‎ ‎ @beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          It might be, and given the States’ rather unique culture I have a feeling it’s a big contributor other factors notwithstanding.

  • Lowlee Kun@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Iphone is the superior phone for people that really dont want to know how a operating system works and dont want to learn either. Always when i talk about something i do on my phone that Apple has locked its users out of doing my iPhone-friends go “That sounds complicated” when its mostly basic af. I would not even dare call myself a power-user, because i am not. Its just that iphone is perfect for the tech illiterate.

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
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      Hm, we should start saying iPhones are for boomers, that’ll probably change the tide lmao

    • MiddledAgedGuy@beehaw.org
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      Apple’s whole shtick for a long time now is ease of use. In that way, one could argue that they played a part in the current level of tech illiteracy (though if people wanted to learn tech in the first place, they wouldn’t have succeeded, but I disgress). So, they’re just harvesting the fruits of their labor. Pun absolutely intended.

  • onlinepersona@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    If the US had a functioning FCC that wasn’t toothless aka their own Margrethe Vestager, European Commissioner for Competition, and Digital Markets Act, iMessage wouldn’t even be a special.

  • anti-idpol action@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    When Jobs kicked the bucket, RMS rightfully said that this mf’n evil genius has figured out a way of making people run to their stores with their arms stretched forward, asking them to handcuff them.

  • Gallardo994@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Whoever considers an iPhone as a status thing is generally broke anyway. I personally own both S23U and i14PM and I still use S23U because it helps me in my daily life much more than an iPhone. People claiming something about others based on a fucking phone preference aren’t worth my time.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Android Inferiority Disfigurement Syndrome.

      Everyone knows that’s a thing. Text and Android from an iPhone and the iPhone suddenly slows down, starts sideloading random apps, and Siri won’t shut up about how much customization Android allows for. /s

  • FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I’m assuming that stat is for the US because here Apple’s stuff is very much in the minority with every group.