As Smartphone Industry Sputters, the iPhone Expands Its Dominance
As Smartphone Industry Sputters, the iPhone Expands Its Dominance
www.nytimes.com
As Smartphone Industry Sputters, the iPhone Expands Its Dominance
As Smartphone Industry Sputters, the iPhone Expands Its Dominance::Apple, which is set to release a new iPhone on Tuesday, has increased its share of smartphone sales by converting Android customers and adding teenagers.
Unless an iphone becomes literally the only option, I don't see myself ever getting one. I'm deeply morally opposed to their walled-garden approach, and I won't even get one Samsung's Androids for the same reason. It would be nice for me if there was more people like me, but regardless, as long as there's a freer option, I'll be taking it.
It's too bad Android didn't lean more into it's relative freedom. Instead, almost all Android manufacturers have followed Apple's lead closely. I have to believe there'd be a sizeable market for a flagship Android phone with, say, a removable battery, headphone jack, SD card slot, and an easily unlocked bootloader.
They exist, they just aren’t popular because most people don’t care.
Bootloader a are usually pretty easy to unlock, it's Safetynet that is the biggest problem these days. Though you can generally sandbox it a little bit with a custom ROM. If, however, you try to keep it stock and have it rooted with Magisk it can be a nightmare depending on the manufacturer.
Aside from maybe the headphone jack, those are all features that enthusiasts want but average consumers don't care about enough to compromise on size, waterproofing or price.
Smartphones depend so much on economies of scale, and a limited pool of cutting edge components, it would be hard to sustain a niche market just for enthusiasts.
Its like picking between different types of cancer, its either walled garden or a privacy nightmare.
And Apple is out there dual wielding both issues while adding a human rights violation as well
I'm just opposed to their brand ethos. They always complicate things in the name of simplicity.
apple mice have 1 button to click, and that this decision was made (in the 80s) because they thought 2 button mice would confuse the average user.
... and now apple users command + click all the time, like that isn't more complicated.
That's not why I hate apple, but it is why I hate apple. They perpetually put the cart before the horse.
"We stopped including a charger in the box to help the environment"
Actually this means more boxes are being created in total and this is worse for the environment. 🤦‍♂️
Edit: God you apple stans are annoying af. I guess y'all are just an extension of their obnoxious ethos lol.
Apple Mice have had right click for 14 years, and their trackpads have used two finger click in its place far longer than that. And before that, any two button mouse worked just fine in OS X from 2001 on (earlier if you ran the beta of OS X). So your information is anywhere from two decades to one and a half decades out of date. Well done.
How so? That thought only works if you think they still manufacture the same amount of chargers and package them. Which would be pretty dumb given that they aren’t guaranteed a sell. Also, who doesn’t have a bunch of different chargers already?
I agree with you and the OP of this thread. I don't want to support a company with a walled garden approach and they over complicate things to be unique
Speaking of annoying af. Look at you, you're the same. You're not anti-apple, you're just pro-anti.
Apple devices have had right click for a while now. It’s a two finger press.
What phone did you end up choosing?
I went with the Motorola G Stylus 5g. It's not perfect, but it does have an SD slot, a headphone jack, FM radio, an easily unlocked bootloader, and a built-in stylus I didn't expect to care about but which I have grown weirdly dependent on. I just wish it had a removable battery.
I don’t see myself ever going back to Android (beyond my work phone that is) because it’s so much hassle. An iPhone I can get second hand and keep for five or six years. Most Android manufacturers stop supporting their devices pretty much after release.
I don’t want to be forced to upgrade my phone all the time. It’s a tool, switching it out is a hassle. I don’t want to think about it all the time, it’s just meant to be there and work when I need it.
That’s something I never got from Android. I liked my OnePlus One, but I hated that I had to flash updates myself and use MAGISK to circumvent security stuff so I could use my day-to-day apps.
Honestly I think it’s a problem with the whole “smartphone” market altogether. You don’t really own your device, and the manufacturers would love it if you upgraded yearly. It’s why twice-a-year releases were so popular for a while.
All I hope for is for all the anti-consumer bullshit to get regulated out of existence.
It sounds like you made some choices about how you engaged with android phones that you regretted. Maybe you weren't aware of the consequences of your choices, which I can see being a reason to favor apple (because they don't offer choices).
However, your experience could have been completely different. There are plenty of ways to use android's that don't involve nearly as much effort as you describe. Security updates can be nearly automatic, requiring only a restart. Root access isn't strictly necessary, but is choice you can make. And changing phones can be as easy as logging in to your Google account (nearly everything gets synced automatically).
What? Your complaints would be solved by simply... not rooting your phone lmao.
What apps required that much circumventing? I've owned solely Androids and I've never run into "my phone's software is so outdated I can't run XYZ apps on it"
Do you do something really special on your phone that requires the latest version, in which case your experience is not going to be relevant to most users... Or are you just wayyyyy overstating the actual impact it had on your life?
I mean google plans on supporting the pixel 8 for a really long time, sampsung provides support for a pretty long time