Other With the growing competition and alternatives, why do you choose to stick with iPhone (and iOS)?

[2021]

I’m tempted by Pixel. I like the design and the price, and I’ve never had an Android so wouldn’t mind trying.
On iPhone I really like Face ID and the iOS design in general, but the 14 release was seriously disappointing and I’m definitely considering alternatives now more than before. I hope 15 is an actual update.

 

[ian87w]

I’m tempted by Pixel. I like the design and the price, and I’ve never had an Android so wouldn’t mind trying.
On iPhone I really like Face ID and the iOS design in general, but the 14 release was seriously disappointing and I’m definitely considering alternatives now more than before. I hope 15 is an actual update.

The 14 is only "disappointing" to tech youtubers or those with 13 models. But for every one person disappointed with the 14, there are dozens others with older iPhones who are looking to upgrade. And for anyone with iPhone 11 or older, the 14 models provide enough new things to upgrade to.

Just watch. When the 15 is released, the same youtubers and people will say it's disappointing and more of the same compared to the 14 (same dynamic island, etc). But for anyone with iPhone 12 or older, it will be a great upgrade. And so on and so forth.

 

[2021]

The 14 is only "disappointing" to tech youtubers or those with 13 models. But for every one person disappointed with the 14, there are dozens others with older iPhones who are looking to upgrade. And for anyone with iPhone 11 or older, the 14 models provide enough new things to upgrade to.

Just watch. When the 15 is released, the same youtubers and people will say it's disappointing and more of the same compared to the 14 (same dynamic island, etc). But for anyone with iPhone 12 or older, it will be a great upgrade. And so on and so forth.

14 is practically the same hardware as 13, the cheapest model is over a thousand eur. I don’t see why it has to be this way, they could at least make it cheaper.

Good device if you’re going from an old model though. I have 12, I don’t think I’d feel the difference.

15 is expected to have usb c so I’m likely to have enough reasons to update with any additional spec bumps. What I’m saying is that the lack of changes in 14 got me wondering how other manufacturers are doing, and the new pixel just looks interesting enough.

 

[ian87w]

14 is practically the same hardware as 13, the cheapest model is over a thousand eur. I don’t see why it has to be this way, they could at least make it cheaper.

Good device if you’re going from an old model though. I have 12, I don’t think I’d feel the difference.

15 is expected to have usb c so I’m likely to have enough reasons to update with any additional spec bumps. What I’m saying is that the lack of changes in 14 got me wondering how other manufacturers are doing, and the new pixel just looks interesting enough.

The same can be said on the Pixel 7. It's the same overall design as the Pixel 6. And the Tensor 2's raw performance is nowhere near Snapdragon 8gen2. In a sense, the Pixel 7 is more of Pixel 6s.

Look at how many youtubers saying that the Galaxy S23 Ultra is basically the "same" as the S22 Ultra. Same story.

 

[Ac1d 8urn]

To sum it up in a meme...

In my personal experience, Apple stuff is "set it and forget it" compared to "ongoing IT project" with the others.

Still though, every once in a while I get bored and try to switch back to windows & android. In December I bought a windows laptop, Z flip 4 + galaxy watch + tab S8 plus, and put my apple devices away. I was going to switch. It was a high end gaming laptop with better specs than my M1 MBP, but was still somehow slower and I had nothing but problems with the damn thing. I was in IT for 15 years so I could fix the problems, but I didn't want to. I didn't buy a brand new device just to troubleshoot it constantly. I dealt with it for a month to avoid admitting I wasted a bunch of money on stuff I no longer want to use, but I finally got fed up and exchanged it for an iMac(which has been an absolute joy so far). People rip on Best Buy a lot but thank god we had Totaltech, that 60 day return policy for members saved my butt.

The samsung tablet was nice but WAY too big, and there are no small android tablets that are any good. iPad mini 6 is absolutely perfect- big enough to watch videos and read books, small enough to hold comfortably and fit in my purse, and powerful enough to handle anything. There's really no comparable alternative.

The watch was fine, I liked that I could hack it to take my blood pressure but even the smallest model was too bulky and y'all have no idea how hard it is to find a good-looking watch face with the moon phase like on the apple watch. I see a lot of people online wishing apple would make a round watch but I hated the round screen. You only get a few lines of usable info in the middle of the screen, compared to the entire screen space on the apple watch being utilized.

The phone wasn't bad, I actually liked it and android has come very far in the last few years, but android is still very disjointed and messy compared to iOS. Sideloading & themes are cool, but the core user-friendliness just isn't there. Everything is just all over the place. Memory management was awful, 8gb of ram but couldn't keep more than 4-5 apps open in the background without slowing down. On my iPhone I still have background apps from January. I didn't want to hunt down then pay for multiple 3rd party app subscriptions to replace the functionality of icloud apps either, nor did I want to spend ages moving everything over from icloud to other services. I missed shared albums & facetime too, my whole family is on iOS and I didn't like being so disconnected.

In my eyes, Apple's support can't be beat either. Try calling any other big tech company and A) getting a human on the phone in a reasonable amount of time, B) that human understanding your problem, and C) getting the company to actually FIX the problem. And even if they do, you gotta mail it in and risk carrier theft, lost packages, getting it back more broken than it was before, or the company claiming "water damage" to dodge the warranty and demand hundreds to fix it. On the reddit samsung forum there's a guy who had to go through arbitration to force them to honor his warranty after giving him the run around for months. Microsoft is even worse, I'm still waiting on a replacement for the defective power cord my surface laptop came with in 2020. 3 years of "covid delays" now, and they tried to make me reinstall windows before they'd RMA the cord. I know some people have issues with apple support but it's always been a breeze for me. Call/chat in, get a human within minutes, get problem fixed quickly without rep arguing with me or disconnecting. If I have a hardware failure, I just take it to an apple store and they swap it out under applecare.

My husband is a huge android/windows guy and he was disappointed that I didn't stick with it, but this is my comfort zone and I am staying in it. lol

 

[Ctrlos]

Its chalk and cheese. Hardware comparisons are moot when software is still unequal. This always gets missed off all the '14 Pro Max vs S23 Ultra' pieces.

I quite like Android, don't mind Google's apps and love the fact I can access emulators really easily. I love that there is such a choice of handsets.

But on iOS there are a plethora of apps and games that I use and play that are not available on Android, they background sync with my iPad and Mac, I have 15 years worth of purchases I can still access (iOS has the best level of videogame backward compatibility on the market) and iOS is just nicer to use than Android. Google keep trying and failing to make anything as useful as the Wallet app.

 

[maflynn]

Are you guys ever tempted to switch to Pixel or Samsung? If not, what makes you stick with Apple products?

Not really simply because the platform is greater then the phone. The services and apps are superior on iOS, plus family and friends use iOS and so we facetime. In fact most of my town uses iPhones. In school, if you have a Samsung, you're considered a second class citizen

 

[Hal~9000]

Are you guys ever tempted to switch to Pixel or Samsung? If not, what makes you stick with Apple products?

I tried once. Got a S10e, tab S8, Galaxy Buds, etc. ended up switching back due after 3-4 months for a few different reasons:

iMessage
Family and friends either didn’t want to download the signal app or didn’t feel comfortable having their private messages in the hands of another company besides Apple. Of course I would try to explain how Eric Snowden gave signal his endorsement and what end-to-end encryption is, but trying to convince everyone you know to use something new gets pretty tiring when having to do it time after time after time...

Not to mention that once I got most of them on board, they would forgot to use Signal when messaging me directly. Another issue is that they would include me on a group text and since I was the only green bubble, the quality of photos & videos in the message thread would get screwed up.

AirDrop
AirDrop is amazing and so seamless. I really like being able to transfer large files, lots of photos, and long videos with just a couple of swipes without using my cellular data. I am on a $15 prepaid plan with 3.5gb per month and when my family and I get together I don’t want to have to say “Oh sorry, there’s no Wi-Fi at the park so I’ll have to Dropbox it to you later ok?” AirDrop fixes all this and makes sharing things with family a breeze.

Apple Store Support
When things go wrong with a device as important as your smartphone, you want to be able to go somewhere in person and get service that same day. I’ve had situations come up where Apple support staff has gone above and beyond to help me, earning my respect and trust of the brand. Unless things have changed, with Google or Samsung phones you would need to send your phone to them via the mail and be phoneless for a few days while they fix the issue and send it back.

Profit Stability
Apple takes in the lions share of the profits in the entire smartphone industry. This makes me confident that I am buying something that will have continuous software support and security patches for many years to come. Android manufacturers in the past have come and gone, and while Google / Samsung seem like they’ll be there forever, nothing is guaranteed. For me Apple support is a safer bet long term than any others atm.

 

[kamikazeeMC]

"It just works"

No it's not perfect and I've had issues time to time, but for the most part it has been solid. As a piece of tech I use everyday, I just want a tool that gets things done where usability is seamless, I don't find my self getting bothered by it. I feel iOS has better UI/UX consistency and apps are more polished vs their Android version.

I consider my self someone that likes to tinker. Sure I like how Android offers more customisation, but the things I can't change on iOS aren't a deal breaker, and I don't feel 'locked down' on it.

My current Pixel 7, while it is pretty good, the under screen fingerprint reader is just bad. FaceID works every time, unless I have half my face buried in a pillow. The camera struggles with white balance under artificial light, where I have to manually edit. While iPhones I've used have done a better job where I didn't feel the need to edit. I want the ability to just point and shoot with a phone, otherwise I'd use a dedicated camera. There are still some micro stutters here and there, though much better from when it released. These ruin the usability for me.

I've had my iPhone replaced on the spot twice, an iPhone 4 which has an issue with the camera when the flash was used, and the 5 when the power button became stuck (replacement program). The phone was over a year old and beat up from working outside.

Will be back with the 15 later in the year!

 

[OneSon]

Google make the vast majority of their profit (~80%) through advertising. Selling ad space but also collecting personal information. I suppose I could buy an android phone and 'de-google' it as much as possible but quite frankly I have enough disposable income to not have to do that and instead use an iPhone.

 

[one more]

I started my IT adventures with Windows 95 (so way before any tablets and smartphones) and was attracted to Apple’s aesthetics and attention to detail. Their Aqua UI looked fabulous back then compared to a rather dull Windows. My perception of it at the time was that with Windows I spent 70% of my time fine-tuning and troubleshooting it and 30% - for actual productivity, whereas with Apple that ratio was reversed. I am over-simplifying, of course, but still…

My first ever Apple product was their original white iPod Shuffle, then followed a white plastic MacBook, then iPhone 3GS, etc, and I am still very happy with everything Apple I use, so I just have no real reason to look elsewhere.

 

[Jackbequickly]

What growing, what competition?

Android is not even a consideration. I don’t need a phone that folds in half!

I avoid google when and wherever I can.

 

[fanboy-ish]

Simply put, there’s nothing that compels me to leave iOS for Android.

I have the “complete ecosystem” except for the Apple TV and the HomePod which I don’t need, I also have a Windows laptop that I use regularly for things that MacOS makes hard (VPN), but all my work is done on my Mac, more efficiently than I was ever able to do on Windows, even when using Office, I could just replace Windows with Linux and I wouldn’t notice much of a difference for what I do on Windows.

Being in the Apple ecosystem is actually making my life easier and my work more efficient.

Also, I find dealing with Apple as a company to be hassle-free, I’ve always had great experiences with their customer service and I’m in the middle of a trade in, I’ve received a satisfactory evaluation for my old iPhone and the procedure is simple.

 

[fatTribble]

For me it’s the ecosystem and a dislike of Google.
I do like the way the Apple products work together. I like the geeky things I’m able to do with photos and videos. I like the focus on privacy. I won’t try to dissuade anyone from using Google, but they’re just not for me. If another tech company like Microsoft or IBM had a good alternative then that might be a consideration, but it’s hard for me to imagine jumping ship.

 

[Andeddu]

My work phone is an Android so I do use the platform almost daily. I don’t like it as much as iOS due to iOS being close to perfect and bug free. I much prefer the user experience which is why I only buy iPhones.

If it weren’t for iOS, I would definitely move to a Good Pixel 6 or 7 because I think those phones are much more pleasing to the eye than iPhones.

 

[applestein]

I used samsung since 2013 but i got tired of waiting for a good apple watch alternative and my whole family has iphones so not having Imessage was annoying. Samsung watches at the time were good but not very good with no google assistant. I gave an android wear watch a try and it was a software mess at the time. Samsung also screwed me over on a repair claim so i was turnned off. I switched to the 12p in 2020 and have been very impressed. Sure it's not greatest phone and lacked many features of android phones, but it has been solid. 2.5 years now and it has held up great. My samsung phones, even with updates, just never aged well after 2 years. Performance seemed to nose dive after that. I just really enjoy having a nice solid phone with great support. (siri sucks though compaired to google assistant). But it really came down to wearables, solid performance over time, and i message. It really says alot when my favorite android smart watch was the moto360 2nd gen from late 2015. Their wearables only seemed to get worse from there.

 

[Alex Cai]

Since Google and Microsoft will never work together, the OEMs are doing it themselves. There's Huawei (which only works between Huawei phones and laptops), and HP (using an app called HP Quick Drop). I think Samsung also has its own called Quick Share, but only between Samsung devices.

The nice thing is, with some Samsung phones (upper midrange and higher), you can mirror and operate your phone right on the Windows desktop using Link to Windows. I believe Direct File transfers are also possible. That's quite powerful, and it's weird that Apple hasn't done the same (the mirroring part). Imagine being able to simply operate your iPhone screen right on macOS.

Usefull but trackpad + IOS doesn’t sound like sth convenient
except when working with files or playing videos

 

[Tripps9000]

Because I don’t like android!😂🤣

 

[StellarVixen]

Growing competition? There is a third mobile OS that is grabbing market share from both iOS and Android? Where is it, I might check it out.

Or you maybe mean hardware competition, in which case I don't care as they are all running Android.

 

[sers]

I dabbled (again) recently into Android, specifically with a Galaxy S10. While I found it fun and interesting to try out Android and the ecosystem (Google), I went back to Apple for a number of reasons:

• iMessage – Almost everyone I know has an iPhone and this just makes sharing videos, pics, files so much easier. I tried the Whatsapp, Signal, etc. route but not everyone is using those apps so it was a mix of SMS/MMS and 3rd party apps. It was a bungled mess and iMessage is a 1 stop shop for all my messaging needs, SMS included. It’s just easier;
• User interface – Apps are so optimized and look so good on iPhone compared to Android that it’s not even close. I know it shouldn’t matter because they both accomplish the same thing, but when apps are pleasant to use and appealing to the eye, it makes using iOS much more enjoyable. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one nonetheless;
• Software support – Apple is legendary in supporting older devices. I’m still using a 2016 iPhone SE. I like small phones and this thing just keeps going and going. It’s on iOS 15 so it no longer gets iOS updates, but it still gets security updates. I’m keeping this thing until it’s no longer useable.
• Bulletproof hardware – I was using an S10 and that thing is well built, but my SE just won’t die. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with, other than a bit of yellowing that’s starting to appear on the edges of the screen (doesn’t bug me though).
• Airdrop and Handoff – I have a Mac Mini and my family all have Apple devices and I couldn’t live without these features anymore;
• iCloud – iCloud is not as robust nor feature rich as Google’s offerings, but it meets my needs and integrates well into all my hardware;
• Backup – Backing up my iPhone is a breeze – just have to plug it in and it backs up while charging. Not so much on Android;
• iPhone resale value – Not even close compared to Android.

Sure, there’s some things on Android that I wish iPhone had (messaging on the web, better gestures, etc.), but you can’t have everything I guess.

I’m in a point in my life where I just want reliability and need things to work. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Android and I don’t diss anyone for using it. But for me, I’ll be sticking with Apple for the time being.

 

[Marbles1]

The build quality of the laptops, the ecosystem, the fact that for 80% of things 'it just works'. Errors like the current macOS 'application added in the background' notification bug are few and far between.

That said, I've really benefited from being able to run Windows on my Mac, locally. I'll probably stick with iPhone but the jury is out on whether my next laptop will be Apple.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I use a Mac as my daily driver and I've used iPhones since the 3GS. I don't really care about phones much compared to others so I just get an iPhone just so I have something that works. The only complaint I have (besides the lack of a headphone jack APPLE) is no USB-C and no sideloading, both of which are getting addressed soon.

 

[nburwell]

I’ve flirted (aka played around with) a few Samsung and Pixel devices over the years. Android definitely has improved over the years, but I still prefer iOS by a mile. That said, I could never go all in on Android. I’m definitely happy being “stuck” in the Apple ecosystem.

 

[cthompson94]

90% the Ecosystem and 10% customer service. In the past I would have said updates/support, but since most of everyone have close to/similar years of support that isn't so much a problem. Stability used to be another big one, but last time a had a Android (Note 20) to see if I could make the switch it was good stability wise. The build qualities (especially flagships) are good.

I know that Samsung has teamed up with Microsoft for some Ecosystem and Samsung is also is slowly building up a Samsung only one, but until that happens it just won't be on the same level. Of course being U.S. base iMessage is a big one, but I know there are workarounds for getting iMessage to work on Android (needing a Mac) so I can't really say iMessage is a big one, but it is a factor for sure. A comparison for me is Apple is like Chik-Fil-A (U.S. fast food chain), the food is good nothing really spectacular about it, but I know what I am going to get and how it will look every single time where other places Burger King, McDonalds, Hardees, I mean you name them and I get forgotten food, messed up drinks, huge pumps of mayo or other sauces, it is just unpredictable. I also have heard bad things with particularly Samsungs customer service or sometimes like of. I do know that stuff like customer service changes all the time, you could get a bad rep, or policies change making xyz easier or harder, but any issues ive had to contact Apple support for and I get free overnight shipping, I don't fully recall one issue I had back during the iPhone X but I remember my ticket getting higher and higher up the ladder and because of that and the length of time to resolve the issue I just got a new one sent to me fully paid as long as I sent my problem one to them and of course they sent the box to ship it in overnight. I know that people get tired of hearing "The Ecosystem" and unfortunately it takes owning a few products for people to understand what us ecosystem people are talking about. I know a few guys who have android that are said things like "I tried iPhone, but I couldn't do this or it was basic" but never got anything else and looking at the iPhone by itself yeah it is hard to compare with some features/capabilities as some Android flagships, but yeah Apple getting in early in the ecosystem was genius because companies are still playing catchup with that

 

[BugeyeSTI]

If it was possible to run iOS on non Apple hardware I would definitely give the Samsung S22/23 Ultra a try. Since that won't happen, I'm fine with sticking with Apple and it's products..