Other Why so much elitism with some IPhone users?

[Airforcekid]

I think the whole thing is just human nature, a kind of tribalism. I remember as a kid my dad arguing with his friends bout how Chevy was the best and would make extremely disparaging remarks about anyone who drove a Dodge My father-in-law is a Dodge man and hates Fords. I LOVE my Mustang!!!

I think it's just an issue of maturity and excepting that not people have the same needs or wants whether it's about phones, cars, PCs, sports teams, etc.

I think we can all agree Chevy's are the worst though loyal Mustang owner here lol. In all seriousness I've seen some pretty violent confrontations at car meets over things like engines within the brand the Mustang Ecoboost in 2015 was a crazy time for the community saw more than one person end up in the hospital for having one. I already feel bad for the poor guy who shows up to a Mustang meet with a Mach E thinking its a Mustang.

 

[macsound1]

I haven't read every post but there are many about "feelings" and "emotions" regarding iPhone vs Android.
Here's my "excuse" of iPhone elitism: Apple isn't trying to pull one over on you when the new phones come out. They make it very clear what features each device has.

To be fair, so goes Google.

Samsung on the other hand has the S21 Ultra (the flagship I think), the S21, the S21 Plus (bigger but not as good as the ultra?), S21 FE (slower chip), then all the A series. There also used to be the J series but it was marketed as a footnote in the ads making it sound like you were getting the "real" new galaxy phone but really it was a carrier specific model that was slightly cheaper.

Also to be fair, what Samsung does is what consumer electronic companies do. They muddy the market with 100 slightly different versions of the same product, each with a slightly different but indistinguishable disadvantage from the next.

To me, this is what makes me an iPhone snob. The linear growth and flat comparisons across Apple devices.
I can say yes, I have a great phone 100%. If I was one with an ego I could say, without pause, my phone is better, worse, or the same as yours.

 

[lkalliance]

All you young fellers have no idea what it is like to fight in a tech war with real stakes. There was a time not so long ago, though it seems like ages ago now, when the dynamic was Mac vs. PC rather than iPhone vs. Android. The psychology was very different back then. Windows had, let's see...118% of the market. Is that right? Well, it felt like that. Anyway the Mac user base was much much (MUCH) smaller. But (and here's the key): it was uniformly more computer literate. That's because the default choice if you were going to buy a computer was a PC. It was what you used at work, it was what the salesperson at Fry's Electronics could advise you on, it was cheaper. If you knew nothing about personal computers, but you knew you needed one for home, you bought a Windows machine.

Not so if you used a Mac: you had to make a specific choice to get a Mac. You had to have a reason. And to have a reason it implied you had researched things, that you had the background necessary to even perceive that reason. Otherwise you got a PC because that's what everyone you knew had. Put another way: if you were a computer literate person, you either chose a Mac or a PC for whichever reason you had. If you were computer illiterate, you chose a PC. And there were a huge number of computer illiterate people buying PCs. The Mac user base was almost entirely made up of computer literate people. We were the tiniest minority but we all knew what we were doing.

That seems quaint now. Take a random iPhone user and a random Android user and each one is equally likely to know anything about tech or know nothing about tech. That's because take a step back and all these phones do the same thing. You don't have to know anything about phones to pick the "right" one. Heck, close your eyes and point in a random direction and buy the first phone you come to, you'll get something that places an incredible amount of power and entertainment into your pocket [insert inappropriate joke here]. And it shows in the market. Neither of these phone OS's has a stranglehold on the market. It's a piece of cake now. You risk little in your choice.

 

[Johns12]

I haven't read every post but there are many about "feelings" and "emotions" regarding iPhone vs Android.
Here's my "excuse" of iPhone elitism: Apple isn't trying to pull one over on you when the new phones come out. They make it very clear what features each device has.

To be fair, so goes Google.

Samsung on the other hand has the S21 Ultra (the flagship I think), the S21, the S21 Plus (bigger but not as good as the ultra?), S21 FE (slower chip), then all the A series. There also used to be the J series but it was marketed as a footnote in the ads making it sound like you were getting the "real" new galaxy phone but really it was a carrier specific model that was slightly cheaper.

Also to be fair, what Samsung does is what consumer electronic companies do. They muddy the market with 100 slightly different versions of the same product, each with a slightly different but indistinguishable disadvantage from the next.

To me, this is what makes me an iPhone snob. The linear growth and flat comparisons across Apple devices.
I can say yes, I have a great phone 100%. If I was one with an ego I could say, without pause, my phone is better, worse, or the same as yours.

As i mentioned in my original post, I have owned every iPhone up to 6. At no time did I feel better than, or even cared what someone else was using. I started really noticing this snobbish attitude when the whole green verse blue bubble thing started. I'm black, and in a strange way, it felt like a negative stereotype based on COLOR. Some of the comments at that time really gave me pause.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

As a IPhone 12pro max owner oh yes you must look down to the lower series iPhones and androids its the only way

Indeed us mere peasants with our ordinary 12’s should hang our heads in shame at not going that little further. I doth apologise

 

[317342]

Personally, I find it offensive when someone has the audacity to text me from a non-iOS device; triggered, in fact.

/s

 

[317342]

Indeed us mere peasants with our ordinary 12’s should hang our heads in shame at not going that little further.

As you should. 😉

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Humans are social creatures that crave connection. One of the ways we achieve those connections is through the sharing of a particular trait, be it a religion, sports team, physical appearance, choice in beverages, computer manufacturer preference, etcetera etcetera.

However, given that we are also intellectually fearful by nature we tend to use those very shared traits to exclude those that do not share them.

Hence, conflict ensues regarding any and all of said traits. It is unavoidable, but mitigated via a personal investment in objective, critical, rational and dispassionate thinking. No easy feat.

 

[317342]

As i mentioned in my original post, I have owned every iPhone up to 6. At no time did I feel better than, or even cared what someone else was using. I started really noticing this snobbish attitude when the whole green verse blue bubble thing started. I'm black, and in a strange way, it felt like a negative stereotype based on COLOR. Some of the comments at that time really gave me pause.

I empathize with what you're saying here but for two (2) things...

a. Color vs. Class. If you find issues and antagonisms based on color antagonizing, wait until you hear about class, and antagonisms built upon it.

b. Green vs. Blue. Arguing that iOS vs. non-iOS message colors are intersectional with societal issues relating to color, identity, and privilege, is somewhat ham-fisted if not wholly incomplete; it misses several other requisite critiques and definitions of identity before we can even begin to address how those identities emerge.

 

[lkalliance]

I started really noticing this snobbish attitude when the whole green verse blue bubble thing started. I'm black, and in a strange way, it felt like a negative stereotype based on COLOR. Some of the comments at that time really gave me pause.

That is a way of looking at it that I blush to admit had not occurred to me. I can definitely see how that could be a trigger.

To a certain extent I think there is some (misplaced) FOMO. There is no shortage of internet commenters that are ready to declare that there is a right choice and a wrong choice. Perhaps at some time in the past that was the case (see my earlier post about the Mac-PC wars), but now not so much. But there is still the perception of it being possible you made the wrong choice. And many will try to cloak that fear with aggression. If you made the opposite choice and I can cow you into perceiving a stigma for having made that choice, then by extension my choice was right.

Then there are those of us that just know the truth, that Apple customers are better-looking, longer-lived, more environmentally conscious, understood Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, and could win the Tour de France without doping.

Just like dog owners.

 

[spiderman0616]

The Android vs. iOS argument is irrelevant and a waste of time unless you're Sundar Pichai or Tim Cook. Back in the iPhone 4 through roughly iPhone 7-ish years, it was common for me to be made fun of by some random, overzealous IT weirdo for carrying around an iPhone. I've even had total strangers give me crap about it. Those moments were the only times I ever wasted a single brain cell on Android arguments. I have no use for the tribalism, and I have no patience for people preaching to me about what phone I should use. The fact that people feel the need to point out to others that they don't approve of their smartphone brand (or whatever brand of whatever) fills me with crimson hot rage and annoys me way more than any given thing I hate about Android. (And I seriously do hate Android very much.)

My strategy is not to engage the trolls no matter how annoying they get, and just keep my mouth shut. Over time, most of my friends and family that I talk to regularly have switched over to iPhones anyway, with no goading from me. I have only 2 or 3 acquaintances left that are still green bubble friends in my contact list. People will make their own choices and don't need me helping them along.

 

[960design]

Whenever a discussion about phones comes up, many of the responses are, stupid/cheap/poor/gullible/ any other pejorative, is used to describe anyone who uses an Android phone.

You need new friends.

Do people really get there self worth based on the phone they use?

No, I don't. It would seem many people you associate with do. Back to the needing new friends.

I think Samsung makes amazing phones. Since we are friends and sharing opinions, I think they would take a far greater share of the market if they hired 5 good software engineers and wrote their own OS based off of best practices learned from both Google and Apple, call it SamsungOS.

 

[spiderman0616]

You need new friends.

No, I don't. It would seem many people you associate with do. Back to the needing new friends.

I think Samsung makes amazing phones. Since we are friends and sharing opinions, I think they would take a far greater share of the market if they hired 5 good software engineers and wrote their own OS based off of best practices learned from both Google and Apple, call it SamsungOS.

Yeeeeaaaaah......I have to agree with this too. If your friends are sucking the life out of you because they won't leave you alone about a gadget, maybe it's time to get some new friends.

 

[TheYellowAudi]

I seriously think it's indicative of the greater population as a whole, and has little to do with device elitism. (although, yes, here anyway, it's based upon whether one uses Apple devices or not.)

American society has polarized into: "If you're not like me, you SUCK!!" and its sad.

I personally prefer all Apple devices, but I truly don't care what device you use. (except my brother, who is the only one in our family that is an android user & has ruined the family imessage chats with green bubbles & the inability to 'tapback'.)

(and yes, I'm American...)

 

[Johns12]

You need new friends.

No, I don't. It would seem many people you associate with do. Back to the needing new friends.

I think Samsung makes amazing phones. Since we are friends and sharing opinions, I think they would take a far greater share of the market if they hired 5 good software engineers and wrote their own OS based off of best practices learned from both Google and Apple, call it SamsungOS.

You seem to think the negative comments are from my friends. I am talking about on this forum. Most of my friends have no clue what phone anyone has. They are mostly tech agnostic and just use whatever their wife/husband does.

 

[mv24]

This is a societal problem and Apple is just one of the many brands appealing to indoctrinated need of lonely urban individual in belonging to a "higher class" through fetishist manifestations. If world around you is measured through monetary prism and entire energy of population of Western countries is directed to benefit chosen few. Why the statement of the author of this thread sounds like a surprise to him? This is pure form of human atomization: --I feel extreme loneliness in the middle of modern world pressures, but as a social creature I need to be part of the group to feel safe. Group: iPhone. Then I need to create boundary - this is part of safety protocol. And anything that is outside of this boundary - is not part my safety circle, therefore has to be criticized to keep boundary intact. Expected and irrational struggles of modern man. The good news - capitalism is counting days and post-capitalist society there won't be iPhones, so the problem will meet the cure.

 

[H3LL5P4WN]

I think we can all agree Chevy's are the worst though loyal Mustang owner here lol. In all seriousness I've seen some pretty violent confrontations at car meets over things like engines within the brand the Mustang Ecoboost in 2015 was a crazy time for the community saw more than one person end up in the hospital for having one. I already feel bad for the poor guy who shows up to a Mustang meet with a Mach E thinking its a Mustang.

Chevy today is. They made themselves dead to me with all these current gen vehicles with no capability at all.

Them bringing out the car-based SUVs and calling them Trailblazer and especially Blazer literally triggered the gag reflex in everyone in my immediate family. We'd owned five Blazers over the years, three K5s and two S10s and they all had one thing in common: they were all trucks... not this suburbanite soccer mom garbage.

I was the first in the family to get a Jeep, and it looks like I won't ever own a Bowtie willingly now.

 

[spiderman0616]

This is a societal problem and Apple is just one of the many brands appealing to indoctrinated need of lonely urban individual in belonging to a "higher class" through fetishist manifestations. If world around you is measured through monetary prism and entire energy of population of Western countries is directed to benefit chosen few. Why the statement of the author of this thread sounds like a surprise to him? This is pure form of human atomization: --I feel extreme loneliness in the middle of modern world pressures, but as a social creature I need to be part of the group to feel safe. Group: iPhone. Then I need to create boundary - this is part of safety protocol. And anything that is outside of this boundary - is not part my safety circle, therefore has to be criticized to keep boundary intact. Expected and irrational struggles of modern man. The good news - capitalism is counting days and post-capitalist society there won't be iPhones, so the problem will meet the cure.

This is the same exact concept that game console makers thrive on. As long as customers keep fighting online about which gaming hardware and software is better, the hardware and software they're fighting about is going to stay in the front of the hive-mind and will continue selling.

The only winning move as a consumer is to use what you like and let the company that made it worry about whether or not that continues to be the case. It's not my job to develop the next iPhone, it's Apple's job. As long as they keep knocking that task out of the park, I will keep using iPhones. I couldn't give the slightest s*** what anyone else thinks about that. I'm the one that has to live with the device day in, day out.

 

[cheesygrin]

There was a time when iPhones were unquestionably the best smart phone. Nothing else came close. The market has now matured and there are many other good Android-based options available. However, there are also still some bad and “cheap” Android options. For the non-tech savvy, having an iPhone is an easy way of knowing and showing others that your phone is not one of the bad ones.

I am tech savvy, and I choose to have an iPhone anyway, not because of how it looks to others (I have it in a big bulky case that makes it look completely generic anyway) but because it’s reliable and ties in with the Apple eco system to make my life just a little easier and less complicated. It is, as you say, just a phone.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Good post. I bought a iPhone 12 Pro Max back at New Year's and like it.

Before that was a lifelong Nexus / Pixel user. Love stock Android OS. Since day one the first Nexus-One, was immediately better than whatever iPhone was out at the time. But yeah historically Google has been hit or miss on thier quality and components over the years. Where Apple has been solid all the time.

My impressions are the iPhone hardware and screen etc...are top of the line fantastic. But iOS is so so, would love to see Android 12 running on this 12 Pro Max.

Don't see anything special about iOS. Even iMessage is whatever, don't get the hype for it, no different than Telegram or Whatsapp to me. Or even Google Messenger with RCS works just as good. iMessage is just another text app.

So yeah I like the hardware from Apple but not the operating system.

And I'm PC Gamer, build my own high end computers, would never buy a Mac.

 

[usagora]

I would guess people that would say things like that are probably high school age or not much older. I think about some of the things I said and things I thought were important when I was in high school and just shake my head in disbelief that I ever felt that or said that.

 

[bettaboy123]

Every time all I hear is “my pocket supercomputer is better than your pocket supercomputer” like okay ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Who cares?

 

[Tig Bitties]

At the end of the day, both iPhone and Android are converging, and a lot more similar than ever before. In 2021 you can't go wrong with either two super phones in the iPhone 13 Pro Max or Pixel 6 Pro. In my opinion those are the only two phones that matter this year, nothing else counts.

 

[odonnelly99]

There is now also elitism amongst Apple users, not just against Android users. Some (not all) ipad Pro users looking down their noses at Ipad air users, and the same with Iphone Pro over the regular/se iphone owners. Aluminium looks cheap, 60hz screen is for peasants… it goes on and on. 12 mini owners getting dumped on left, right and centre.

You see this kind of attitude/misguided elitism a lot on this site and sites like Apple Insider or 9-5 Mac. On any of the Apple sub-Reddits, it’s rare, because the mods tend to shut that **** down ASAP.

It’s bizarre to see grown men and women acting like this on this site and makes me wonder what they’re missing in their lives to cause them to behave in such a way. They are the epitome of Try Hards. Through and through.

Also, I know you’re just repeating what you’ve heard, but a few things made me laugh:

Aluminium looks cheap

Crazy how all iPads and Macs are aluminum, isn’t it?

60hz screen is for peasants

So all iPhones are for “peasants?” Lol. And what about MacBook/iMac screens? Also Peasants?

Funny thing is, every single Doctor, Lawyer, or really well off person I know has a phone that‘s at least a few years old. I once met with a highly respected Surgeon and he asked if he could see my new at the time iPhone 11 Pro Max — he had like an iPhone 7+, lol. I see more Lawyers with Moto G‘s than iPhones. My current lawyer is a green bubble; I wanna ask her what phone she has sometime, just out of curiosity.

It doesn’t matter what phone you have, what iPad, what car you drive; if you’re a total douchebag, no one cares, because you’re a total douchebag.

 

[odonnelly99]

Lmao

View attachment 1808587

I believe I’ve seen that same screenshot before once or twice, and from what I remember, it’s not real.