1y ago

‘You’re Telling Me in 2023, You Still Have a ’Droid?’ Why Teens Hate Android Phones

www.wsj.com ‘You’re Telling Me in 2023, You Still Have a ’Droid?’ Why Teens Hate Android Phones

A recent survey of teens found that 87% have iPhones, and don’t plan to switch. They have their reasons.

(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 😔

553 comments

My entire life I've been reading news that only iPhones are cool, yet my social circles don't care and have never said anything like this. I feel like this is a 'Hello fellow kids' type of investigative journalism, that is a secret apple ad.
- I'm also convinced these are really just paid for by Apple ads. I've never seen anyone care about such a thing.
  
  How often are you around teens though? My dad is a high school teacher and his students are always surprised and ask him why he has an Android and not an iPhone.
  
  Most tech "news" is paid by the subject of the said news.
  
  Nah. That's North America. iPhones in North America have become a status symbol, you have to be available on iMessage, otherwise they'll contact you by SMS. I know a lot of people in Canada who have no other messaging app (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc.). They only communicate via iMessage.
  
  Eh, that was my highschool experience at least. It was never super serious or anything, like it’s not like I was being bullied lol, but I was regularly teased about it in my friend group.
  
  How do you do fellow consumer
- Who the fuck calls Android devices "'Droids" unironically? This couldn't have been real teenagers. Not ones from the past decade at the very least.
  
  What you are referring to as droids is in fact Android/Linux, or as I've recently started calling it, Android+Linux.
  ...
  
  Who the fuck calls Android devices "'Droids" unironically?
  Motorola 👀
  Not ones from the past decade at the very least.
  guess we can thank TikTok and Snapchat for that?
  
  Psst. Side bar.
  I like retro stuff.
- I'm 36, have had windows mobile pocket PCs thru HTCs and eventually Samsung Galaxies, and have absolutely been shamed several times by different friend groups over the last decade plus lfor not having iMessage. It def ramped up in the later 2010s
  
  Can you expand on your experiences? Was the social pressure constant, or just a comment? Do you think it impacted your relationships with your friends?
- I have, in my dating life, gotten lightening charging cables to have around the house.
  It's never fun to have someone ask you for a charger, you saying "Sure, use the fast charger right there", and not have the lightening cable for their phone. But it's also a catch-22, if you DO have the cable they need then its "Why do you have this cable, you don't have a iphone".
  
  “Why do you have this cable, you don’t have a iphone”
  It's like having some spare toothbrushes and women's hygiene stuff just in case someone stays over. You'll score points for being thoughtful, but on the other hand they'll be like: waaait a minute ...
  
  !android@lemmy.world, now also the best place for dating tips.
  Personally, I would appreciate the thoughtfulness of it.
  
  "it's an ex girlfriend's" is a good ice breaker.
- Apple has a great advertisement department. They are great at pumping such news stories.
- I mentioned it in another comment, but this was real in my experience. At least in highschool. It’s not like I was bullied or anything, but I was teased about it quite a bit and honestly it made me want to switch to iPhone just to fit in.

"This unbiased and purely informative piece of journalism sponsored by Apple."
- Only in theaters July 21st. 😊
  
  Theater at home early with Apple TV+ Ultra!

No one gives a shit which phone you have.
Also, no one uses the term “droid”.
This article reads like “fellow kids” nonsense.
- No one gives a shit which phone you have.
  In high school, they absolutely do.
  Like, the epitome of the high school experience is social peer pressure about dumb shit.
  And this can have a huge effect on the market in 5 years time.
  
  this must be a us thing, I'd say over half the people have in Ireland have iPhones but nobody cares really, if anything my custom rommed Poco f3 has gotten a bit of interest from a few friends
  
  as a high schooler (outside of america) my friends mostly have androids, I'm not saying they are better, just saying that they are more common
  
  God, the memories you just unlocked
  There was this one guy at school who one day rocked up with his new Windows Phone, that was the cool, new thing then.
  When I came up to him and told him he wasn't going to be the only one with a 4" Amoled screen, he was devastated
  Man, we were stupid
- I got roasted by a room full of interns for having an android phone last week.
  
  Idk what people use. I had two coworkers from another country ask why I don't have an iPhone?
- Also, no one uses the term “droid”.
  glance at sidebar
  🥲
  
  for those who are out of the loop: https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=7nvijQ-L_ms
- No, this is real. An iPhone to kids is like a social status symbol and potential family wealth indicator. Of course it's absolute bull, but just as adults are, kids are horribly manipulated by marketing and advertising too. Kids have glommed onto phones for conspicuous consumption whereas adults glom onto cars and houses for said signals.
  Of course not all adults or kids do this, but a great deal do. That's where the stupid bumper sticker comes from that says, "He who has the most toys at the end wins!" Very ugly stuff, in my opinion. And if there is a devil, that's where it lives mostly.

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.
  
  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
- 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.

I think the most frustrating part is Apple is willfully hampering the ability to intercommunicate between iPhones and Androids and people aren't like "Oh, fuck them for doing that", they're like "Oh, Android sucks." Like it's just a wildly successful and incredibly scummy tactic to convince people that Apple devices are superior and people didn't just fall for it, they're willfully diving in headfirst.
It's a shame, really, because I do think they make some pretty good hardware. Might not be my thing, but they make a good phone. That said, I'll never patronize them because of the bullshit I've had to endure trying to communicate with my iPhone-owning family.
- i've only ever heard about this "green bubble" thing from USA media.
  do Americans still use SMS?
  why? phone numbers are obsolete. my SMS inbox going back years is just 2FA security codes, and they're very rare these days, since authenticator apps.
  
  Yeah sms ought to be the standard default. Since companies like apple refused to help improve it, people like you turn to other solutions. If you use WhatsApp, you should know Facebook owns it and uses it to spy on you for profit. I'd prefer "obsolete" sms to that...
  
  Still popular in Australia, at least in my demographic
  
  Same here, it's all 2fa and appointment reminders for things. Even my elderly relatives uses WA now.
- They will have to open up in 2024. Thanks to the EU.
- Yes! I've been saying this for many years, but my Apple cult-member friends don't want to believe me. It's gotten better over the years, but Apple used to be so incompatible with everything else, almost like it was done on purpose to force more market share....🤔
- Apple is willfully hampering the ability to intercommunicate between iPhones and Androids
  In what way exactly? All the messaging apps I use work fine. I even have the same Signal account logged in through both my Android phone and my iPad.
  Nobody I know actually uses iMessage either. It's a complete non-issue as SMS is quite an outdated technology.
  
  USA still uses SMS for a variety of reasons.
  
  Come back to me after convincing a group of non tech-savvy iPhone-using friends or family to use literally anything but whatever the default messaging app is available on their phone or whatever they're already used to.

Teenagers are well known for their experience and insight

Holy fuck, kids are cringe. I hate this blue bubble elitism so much. Glad it's not a really a thing in Europe.

This news just in: teenagers can be arseholes to each other.
Back in my day, it was over the brand of sneakers or jeans that you wore.
- My little brother refused to wear his new air walks to school any more because the kids told him they weren't real because the style he had used a lowercase a logo. Same energy.
  
  Back in the mid 90's, Nike had the Air Modify Force / Air Adjust Force (can't remember which they were at the time) and the shoes came with a changeable strap with the Nike logo and came in a bunch of colors. You could buy just the strap and change one of the accent colors of your shoes, basically.
  Poor dude in middle school got busted for putting that strap over off-brand shoes and they dragged him the rest of the year over that shit.
- At least sneakers doesn't have a bunch of sensors, Internet connection and propietary software loaded, so by going with trend you won't compromise anything other than money.
  
  ...yet

I'm amazed it's 2023 and we've still not universally adopted a protocol better than SMS. Thanks Apple
- We have all universally adopted Rich Communication Services, which is an open standard.
  Well, except for Apple. They haven't adopted it.
  
  Apple's refusal to cooperate is both obviously profit motivated and infuriating. They've engineered this social gulf between iPhone and non-iPhone users. I often wonder about the collective social harm.
  The low res photos and video are natural byproducts of squeezing modern media into an SMS message, but the 'green' bubbles take it to another level. The worst part is that the average iPhone user at best is apathetic. Meanwhile Cook suggested last year that we should just buy more iPhones as a solution.
  
  Crossing my fingers that the eu æaq that forces 3rd party app stores etc, on iphones, can fix it
- In 2024 Apple and Google will have to figure it out because the EU are twisting their arms.
- It's 2023. Why use SMS in the first place? The world except the US has moved on years ago.
  
  Because open standards that don't require specialized software have many advantages.. Why would you prefer proprietary software in the first place?
  
  SMS > Facebook
  
  I'm in the US and my thought is that it's easier to use sms because not everyone uses Signal, not everyone uses Telegram, and those types. If they did... One person would prefer Snapchat, the other would prefer Signal.. Too many choices. With SMS, it's just your phone number, and everyone has a phone number.
  Otherwise you gotta get usernames for different people for different apps.. It's too complicated.

I'm 14 and I hate iphones I prefer Android phones rooted with a custom rom

They'll also say they're too smart to be affected by advertising.

This has to be a US thing, in Switzerland there is not a single person I communicate with using iMessage. It’s WhatsApp or Signal.

I am a teen and I love android becuase it give me freedom I can do whatever I want to do by rooting or installing Custom ROM. Also It's Privacy Focused(degoogled my Tab + Root). Other Teenager don't know shit about privacy and FLOSS fuck them I don't care.
- Same boat here, no one else in my school cares about their privacy. They take everything for granted. They only see the surface level of the world around them.
  I would never daily drive an iPhone. Or use any of the social medias they use. Or vape, vaping is a big one here in the UK.
  I do think you're a bit too hostile there though, it's important we voice our concerns and not just lose all hope for them, even if they are hostile towards us.
- That fuck them mentality won't get you anywhere. Your phone is a communications device. You need others to be using free protocols and software, otherwise your phone will be useless.
- I don't even like IPhones, but aren't they one of the most private?
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93FBI_encryption_dispute#:~:text=The%20Apple%E2%80%93FBI%20encryption%20dispute,public%20access%20to%20strong%20encryption.
  
  Apple only got around to encrypting iCloud data last December.
  The FBI dispute happened because the guy in that case was not doing iCloud at all. In that sense they're private. But if you've ever had more than one iOS device or are using iCloud backups they already had access to it.
  
  Using iphones, you have to trust apple, because everything is closed source and no one can audit the code to make sure that apple isn't being nefarious.
  Using AOSP (the open source android project) like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS, you don't have to trust--you know. All the code is open source and is continuously audited.
  The same can be said about Mac's and Windows (both closed source) compared to Linux (open source).
  Privacy is more than just a choice, it's a conscious effort.
  
  I appreciate you linking your source, fighting for privacy (although good) does not mean they are actually private or even secure.
  As it stands today, if you or your information is on the internet, you are vulnerable.
  Edit: I forgot to mention, there are way too many tools out there to extract information from Apple/Android devices.
- Apple has better privacy features than Google.
  
  Nobody should trust companies with their privacy, especially when they always get away with lying and their tools are in no way auditable.
  
  No, not really.

*Why American Teen Hate Android Phones
Also I'm very glad that Lemmy is a lot less US defaultism than Reddit is. It's pretty tiring having to constantly hear about Democrats vs Republicans, or bubbles, or Nissan cars bad, you get the point.

Honestly, I have found teens using iOS to be more tech illiterate. Like they dont know about Piracy, Ad-blockers and stuff. Crazily believe that apple IS privacy friendly and shit like that.
- These kids have been ready-made by apple to be corporate friendly. A whole generation that can't do anything if it isn't installed by the app store. Think how useful that is for corporations.
- Even worse, my iOS-using teenagers know nothing about online privacy at all! Despite me paying for a family account with Bitwarden, they still use the same bloody password on all their accounts.
  Waiting for the next credential stuffing attack to breach their Shit Tok account. Maybe then they'll listen to me...
  
  Big problem with modern software is where you aggrogate diffrent 'views' of data without making it clear what your looking at, mom gets confused where her documents run off to when they disappear from 'recently used'. Dont know how it works and it controls you.
  
  Yup. They dont bat an eye when posting so much info about them on Social Media and scream privacy.
- I'm a lifetime android user, but if I was more concerned about privacy I would probably switch to apple. I don't think google is the one to trust here. Knowing everything about me and using that to make money is Google's job.
  
  If concerned about privacy you wouldn't switch to Apple - you'd actually install a custom OS on your Android phone, since you're allowed to do that on most phones.

Ah yes, news so US centric I can't even understand what's the point being made in the article, that's what I didn't miss from reddit.
- It's not even US centric, it's US rich kid fashion centric. So complete hogwash and it will change in a couple years purely because old is bad.
- I read the article and still can't find a real point to it myself, so you're not alone.
  
  The important thing is you get to act superior about it.

Not an American and couldn't care less about the scene there lmao the rest of the world uses Android

Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles
I know a 46 year old man who constantly complains about green bubbles in group texts. He doesn't seem to realize that it's his phone that isn't following a standard and instead has chosen to refuse the RCS standard and lock him into proprietary bullshit.
- Even worse. Over a decade ago, Google offered to integrate with their protocol for a shared improved user experience. Apple forbid it.
  It's not laziness on their part, or "better features" because they get to have control. They literally want the poor user experience to encourage just this kind of bullying.
  
  Funny thing is that Google does the same thing all the time. Back when Microsoft released Windows phone, they had made a few really amazing apps. One of them was their email app. Google went out of their way to ensure Gmail would never work on it past the basic functions of reading and sending email. They also pretty much forbid YouTube from working on windows phones.
  The email thing stuck out the most because Google announced they were dropping support to whatever protocol Microsoft was using to communicate with Gmail servers, then Microsoft announced they would use a different protocol and next week Google went "oh right we are also dropping support for this other protocol".
- Sheep come in many age groups. I have an iphone for work, and I have turned off iMessage.
  "why don't you have an iPhone?"
  "I do, unfortunately. But turned iMessage off because it's shit."
  "But now your messages come in green bubbles. It's annoying!"
  "Send your message in Teams"
  
  "On android phones you can get different messaging apps, and on some of those apps you can change the color of the text bubbles (both send and receive) to suit your needs. If the color is really an issue for you, just change it! Oh iPhones can't do that? Shame.."
- Why do you know this person? Seems like you shouldn't have to listen to anything he has to say anymore...

Is this US specific? Because plenty of people (kids included) use Android in our country. Samsung is the most popular I think.
- It is very US specific. There are other countries where ios have a majority market share, but in most countries the majority market share is android.
  
  A bit like that here in UK. My job includes asking up to 150 people per day to switch off their phones. They are all late teens to middle aged. Majority are teens/early twenties. iPhones are by far the majority for younger British people. Others tend to be Samsung, Oppo or One+.
  I think its a fashion statement thing, and don't forget the teens probably have their bill paid by their parents.
- Found the answer:
  But the stigma regarding Android phones is mostly an American phenomenon, at least to the degree to which it affects purchase habits. Worldwide, per the same Statcounter report, Androids represent the significant majority of all smartphones, holding a 71% share of sales compared with Apple’s 28%.
- I'm in the US with an Android and have never actually encountered this, only heard about kids removed about it. Adults definitely don't give a shit. It's very childish behavior.
- I believe the United States are Apple's biggest market.
- Yep, iPhones are not a big thing outside the US in my experience. They did not even cross 20℅ market share global until a couple years ago.
- yeah this must be very american specific. most people here cant afford iphones and dont care enough over a stupid color. theres a lot of people who also swear by some android brands like samsung.
- In Colombia a few years ago Xiaomi was every where. People getting an iPhone most like get a "are you paying 3 times to do the same as this other phone? You crazy" from their friends, at least I'm my social circle.

Those teenagers are the victim of a failing educational system because they're clearly idiots.
- @favrion @AlmightySnoo it's scary how unstable, impulsive, crazy, persuasive they are. I see many jobs getting destroyed after our generation. I can literally not think of how a genz is gonna be like a data analyst. I would like to see many outliers tho.
  
  That's funny. We said the same about you... Every gen shits on the next one. Every next gen figures it out.
  
  There are still smart kids out there. They are probably not wrapped up in this Android/iPhone war.
  Be careful not to group people together based on one criteria and judge them based on another.

Why would I care what teens think? Android gives me more control over my phone.
- I don't think you're supposed to have your opinion swayed by what teens think but it is important to know what they think because they reflect future trends and ideals.
  
  They’ll vote against whatever the kids want just to pwn them, even if it ends up hurting themselves in the long run.
- https://media.ccc.de/v/camp2023-57129-the_nix_phone_and_the_end_of_android
  
  Bold of you to assume that just because a product is better, it will overtake Android.
- Because their opinion will decide what we will be using in decade or two.
  
  Touch luck world, i will be too out of touch to care. Full boomerism here i come!
- You don’t personally have to, but some of us have kids who will have to deal with this nonsense, and the social pressure on teens is hard enough.

Honestly fuck that "blue bubble" entitlement.

The people who actually care more about what phone their friends are using enough to peer pressure them into getting a phone of a specific brand or model are about as dense as a black hole and about as smart as a bag of rocks.
- Exactly. But that's the issue with everything these days.
  People look down on you for all manner of things. Car clothes hair dog, job accent speech everything.
  Vain is thy name. Get a grip of your life. Nobody should care.
  If I don't infringe on your life then what I do should have no impact upon yours.
  
  Are there supposed to be commas between those words? OR is Car clothes hair dog and job accent speech everything some new hip cool thing I don't know about?

Look, I'm cheap, and I'm not swayed by Apple's smug, trendy marketing horse shit. Remember "I'm an Apple, and I'm a PC?" Who didn't want to punch that smug Apple guy in the face?
But sure, whatever. You fetuses go ahead and cling to Apple because you're told to do it with slick ad campaigns. We all fell for it too... once. Then we realized we were paying for those ads with the Apple tax, and we found better things to do with our money than subsidize paranoid Orwell fantasies and thirty second music videos.
- Never owned an apple product. And never will. It's total rubbish.
- It's not just fetuses and we fell for it more than once. Sega vs Nintendo, Sony vs Microsoft, any car manufacturer vs any other.
  What this is, is class warfare, and a chance to build class consciousness.

@AlmightySnoo
I see this from another angle. The 99% average people using stuff like this and judging people based on the color of a txt bubble simply are not worth hanging with. I mean the whole reason I use Lemmy and mastodon and not the platforms that the 99% use is for this reason. Let your honest choices filter the crap from your life.

I really question this supposed study by an advertisement company
- Didn't catch that, honestly, Who paid WSJ to make or let slip thru the editors, this artical.
- what the fuck is that username

It's not the kids, the parents in my extended family all prefer iPhone's because they can't figure android out. They passed this on to their kids.
- I'd be curious to know what they can't figure out with Android.
  I use both on a daily basis and there's a severe lack of differentiation in experience nowadays. Both have icon based launchers, both have similar looking control centres, both have long form lists for settings pages, both have identical payments experiences, and so on.
  They've stolen each other's features liberally to the point where the only real differences are in the gnarly platform specific stuff that no one really touches unless they're a super user and are mostly hidden away in settings screens.
  Notifications are a bit different I guess, but even that's a stretch.
  
  I want to point out two things: beyond the first OS versions, the majority of design theft was by apple. Also, iOS is unintuitive AF imo. It's not even close for me. If there's something I can't figure out on android, it's typically a weird settings organizational issue I can Google in a few seconds. On iOS, the UI feels like it was designed by someone who never uses a phone like a normal person and hides or removes super common options. I feel gross trying to use an iPhone. Like I'm in a padded room with the electrical outlets covered or some shit.
  
  yup, phone GUIs today have converged, just like different consoles' controllers used to be distinct, and now they're all Dual Shock clones.
- I've switched a few people to android. First thing I do is install a launcher that suits their needs. In the past I always recommended Nova. Now I give them the choice. Once they get the hang of the basis gestures in your launcher they 're hooked to the customizability.
  
  What options do you give them since nova got bought? I'm assuming nova is no longer an option you give.
- yup. Apple is the platform for a small number of badass devs.... and a giant, wide ocean of old people who can't make pc's work for more than a few months because they're fucking dumb.
  I get apple existing, it's the child-safe version of computing where all the angles have been smoothed off.

It's US only so it doesn't matter to the rest of the world. I don't understand how it became like that there.

- Kinda hard when half your mates are unpaid ambassadors for said brand
  
  Get better friends who care more about you than your brand choices.
  
  Just sifting the trash from the treasure.
- what's this meme called?
  
  It's a (less sexist) variation of the "silence wench" meme aimed at brand marketing. Usually you see it deployed against company owned social media profiles in protest of their invasion of a social space. However, it can also be deployed against newsvertising (advertising disguised as news articles/guides).

I was there Gandalf, I was there 1000 years ago when you had to install itunes and there was no copy/paste
Kids are dumb
- I remember when multitasking was a huge deal when it was first added
  
  ... to the original Macintosh! Yes, I am that old.
  
  I remember debating the superiority of my LifeDrive versus a first or second-gen iPod touch at the time. And also eyeing a Galaxy Player. What a throwback! Oh how simple those times seem now.

It seems we've come full circle. I remember early adverts for Android phones showing a line outside an Apple store waiting for the latest iPhone. An older couple ask the youngsters in front of them if they're excited and they reply "oh no, it's not for us .. it's for our parents. We use Android".

I truly do not understand how so many people still fall for apple's pr strat. It's almost like a cult for some, when there's been competition in the premium market segment for over a decade now, that offers products that are at least as good as apple's...
- It’s ~~almost like~~ a cult for some
- It's definitely a cult.

Yeah they like beats too
- Nah beats by dre is old school now. They just use airpods now.
- The new Beats stuff actually gets reviewed pretty well now. Not that it qualifies as a hifi experience for the price, but it's at least not a complete ripoff anymore.
  
  Apple did good work there.
  
  Lol my reference is 10 years old

This is what happens when you succumb to techno AIDS.

But WHY? God I can not understand why someone would willingly use iOS. I have both an Android and iPhone and every time I pick up the iPhone I wonder why anyone would use this willingly.

US teens are stupid.
- Or are just being given slow and aweful low end android phones. IPhones will be faster and better in every way.
  It was the same with laptops 10-15 years ago, people were comparing cheap 400USD laptops with 1500USD macbooks and saying thise are better without ever seeing 1000+ USD PC.
  It is about money/status and performance too.
  I can freely laugh at a colleague with new 1.5k USD macbook with soldered 8GB ram + soldered 512GB SSD while using my three year old thinkpad with 48GB of RAM and 2TB SSD costing the same with upgrades.
  
  There's probably a lot more to this than people realize. My parents definitely did this crap; give you kid the cheapest garbage that you can find them act surprised when they hate it and ask for the more expensive alternative that's nearly guaranteed to actually work.
  If you're getting your kid an iPhone then you kinda have to spend for something that's at least barely competent. Android gives you near-infinite ways to cheap out.
  
  This is probably it. iPhones all meet Apples standards but low end Android devices can be true garbage.
  It's like having a shitty netbook and swearing off Windows as a result.
  
  This was a major point in the intel mac era, but since they moved to their M-series chips, it's a lot more of an apples to oranges comparison anymore. Pixels moving to the tensor platform is similar in this regard.
  
  I did this; got my husband's kid a low end android phone on "pay as you go" since I knew he would either lose it or have it smashed within a few months. Was right on both accounts.
  And yes that phone was as slow as molasses.
- Always have been. My generation liked Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli.

Perfect timing for this ~~Apple propaganda~~ "journalism," as Apple is releasing another phone and have openly stated they don't expect it to sell well.
- Maybe they could improve more than 1-2 tiny things that have already been implemented by Android phones 5 years ago. That might help them sell a few more, although it would cut into their "new" features the following year. Oh, I know! Take something away! That always gets them a lot of exposure. Maybe a phone without speakers this time?
  
  That would actually be great. Fewer douchbags having speakerphone conversations in public

Welp, I am the only one in class using Android, so I get some laughs. If I am going to drop Android, it will be for full fledged GNU+Linux phone. Postmarket OS already officially supports Android apps via Waydroid.
I don't see how I'd use something as restrictive as iOS. Not even being able to sideload apps without jailbreak, so Apple decides what you install.
There's so much stuff I'd miss, I'd feel like using a modern day feature phone.
How is that cool?
- Not simping for Apple (I use Android) but you can sideload without jailbreak. You can do it with a free Apple dev account or with Sideloadly.
  I think it speaks volumes about Apple that some people's knowledge about iPhones is based on years old info and negative experiences. Not that it matters to them.
  Edit: for clarification, I think the fact you have to jump through hoops to put software on hardware you own is bullshit
  
  The fact that official way is still to create an account, aka ask Apple for permission is dumb.
  
  Don't you have to re-certify the app every 2-4 weeks or something when you sideload it?
  I'll admit it's been a while since I've looked, because I just don't care anymore about what device does what how
- While I agree with the sentiment, what are some examples of the "so much stuff"? The big one for me is the red tape around browsers.
  
  Well, he/she mentioned installing apks from anywhere you like, for example.
  I was literally just looking 5' ago for a white noise generator app in the Play Store and struggling to find anything not ad-supported.
  Headed over to f-droid from my Firefox browser, did a search, downloaded and installed the apk directly and now I have it.
  That's a pretty awesome level of freedom.
  
  Sorry for the late reply, but I was asleep.
  Custom ROMs: A nice way to extend your phone's lifespan, or just get a cleaner OS
  Mifare Classic tool: I used that to clone my school lunch card for free
  Minimum width settings: Maybe iPhones have this too, I am not sure. By increasing it from default 395dp to 705dp I have basically converted my phone to tablet. Apps consider tablet anything starting with 600dp.
  LibreTorrent: Nice torrent client for Android, although you can't really seed much with mobile data since you're not connectable.
  USB storage: I can connect a Flash drive or HDD to my phone. Cool.
  Speaking of that, MLUSB mounter: Unfortunately paid and closed source, but mod APKs exist :) (unsafe). Since Linux kernel on Android is so limited, it brings support to extra file systems like NTFS and even UDF allowing you to use DVD or Blu-ray drive for browsing files on discs.
  Speaking of USB, NokoPrint: Again, sadly closed-source app, but at least you don't have to unlock features. It allows me to print on my old HP printer directly from phone via USB with all the settings HPLIP provides.
  Robot36: If I happen to hear SSTV transmission, I can use this nice decoder. It is open-source.
  noaa-apt: This one isn't an app, but it can be compiled for ARM in Termux. It decodes APT transmissions from NOAA-15, 18 and 19 weather satellites they transmit in 137MHz band.
  Termux: What I just mentioned above. And if I learn to configure it, Apache webserver, because why not.
  Simple HTTP server: A slow but simple HTTP server app. Useful from sharing files to a full website on phone.
  Matsuri: A really awesome proxy client
  Android proxy server: Again, this could probably be done in Termux, but there's an app for it. Useful for sharing a VPN connection with other computers. Or setup TCP relay to Orbot. Or both. Or maybe using your phone's internet connection on school network with school computers. It allows for basic username password authentication.
  F-Droid: More FOSS apps
  USB Camera: Chinese app with ads that made me start using NextDNS. Allows me to comnect USB Composite capture card to phone and play NES games. Or a HDMI capture card from laptop. Or an actual camera. It can also run a server with the video feed. Easily allows changing between all supported resolutions and formats.
  Screen stream: How about screencasting over HTTP? Sadly it doesn't support audio.
  Limbo x86 PC emulator: Slow but fun to play with. Why not try Windows 98 on my phone, right? Even Windows 7 somewhat ran on it.
  J2ME Loader: Let's replay those old Java games I played on my Sony Ericsson.
  SDR++: Remember noaa-apt? How about recording it on your phone? A full on SDR (software defined radio) desktop experience. Although support for devices is limited on Android. Airspy, HackRF, RTL-SDR. I use it with RTL-SDRv3. The cheapest and most common SDR.
  SatDump: A universal satellite decoder to use with your SDR. There's also Meteor in 137MHz band transmitting digital imagery. And if you get a satellite dish and L-Band helical feed (with correct polarization - remember dish is a mirror, it reverses it) there's a lot better imagery to get and additional satellites: Metop-B and Metop-C. But RTL-SDR isn't optimal for these higher bandwidths anymore. Consider something like AirSpy Mini.
  SDRAngel: SDR app that tries to do everything. Unfortunately, it doesn't have scaling settings, so you'll have a hard time using it on phone.
  Welle.io: Does your country have DAB/DAB+ radio broadcast, but you don't have a receiver? Well say no more! It is time to use your RTL-SDR for that. If you got the generic one (like $10) it saves you money that you would otherwise pay for a standalone receiver. The cost returns!
  dump1090: An ADS-B receiver. Have you ever checked FlightAware or ADS-B exchange? How about getting that information yourself, directly from airplanes? Well you can do that with planes that are in sight.
  Maybe I could find some more stuff, this is what I'd miss the most.

Imagine taking the wall street journal seriously

Idk, these seem to be first world country problems
In rapidly and non rapidly developing countries, we have brands like realmeme(realme), tecnologically braindead(tecno) and xiaomeme(xiaomi) take over
iCrytoSleeps(iPhones) are alright but people here like to be conservative with their money. Ironically they look at good specs since mobile gaming is all the rage here
I personally daily drive a oneplus one, to spite people like the ones mentioned in the post
- India?
  
  I am in India, yes
- I never got my hands on oneplus one. I got an invite to oneplus two though and used that until oneplus 7 was released. I had to upgrade because my bank app wasn't supported on the old Android version.
  
  Nice! Solid phone!
  Aftermarket buttons and back covers are really easy to get for that phone

Marketing, and the fact that phones are now super boring, everything is web based, there's no more cool apps, everything is just a frontend for some web service, or a damn webview.
The historical feature gap between Androids and iPhones is mostly gone, and since the tech doesn't matter anymore, marketing can go a long way.
The article is also very us centric, in places where cost matters more, the iPhone is seen as a status symbol, just like every other thing that costs a lot for no reason.
I dont really like android. Symbian and even windows phones performed better on inferior hardware. Their weird lifecycle seems to me wasteful and blurs the line between what's running or not. It only became stable once hardware got way better. It's a shame that every other option failed. because the only thing worse than android is an apple controlled environment.

Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles.
So I've heard this sentiment a lot, and at one point it certainly was true, but are teens still texting these days at all? I swear almost everyone moved to instant messaging over Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, etc.
- Anecdote: The local high school I see nearly no one using the built in text messaging system. WhatsApp is the thing I see most often. Quite a few use Signal.
  I have even heard once that, "You use iMessage to text your parents or your FBI agent."
  So you may be on to something. But obvious YMMV in general.
  
  Some of them at least known what's up and got the attitude to express it! Love it!
  
  …what? In the US? Weird, every single person I’ve ever known in my 24 years of living in this country exclusively uses iMessage, unless they’re from another country ofc.
- The article is obviously about US teens. In Europe it does indeed feel out of touch.
  From these stats it seems 17% of US adults use iMessage. Also from Android Authority:
  The key to understanding the green bubble phenomenon is found in a survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. The research highlights huge growth in recent US iPhone sales in the 18-24 age bracket. Gen Z iPhone adoption has jumped from 47% in 2018 to 74% in 2021 — meanwhile, ownership rose slightly from 34% to 40% in the same period for those over 24. Internal Apple research claims that iPhone users predominantly use iMessage (85% of users) and so iMessage’s US user base continues to grow. This is especially so in younger age groups — and with it, the pressure to keep using the same platform as their peers.
- It's as I guessed: bullying people due to Apple's choice to segregate iMessage and not use open source standards.

Great clickbait title from them. This is a US / NA specific issue and thankfully isn't fully reflective everywhere else

Ah great, so Apple won. They have a gynormus mass of imbeciles addicted to a logo. Good to know.

This literally translates how dumb kids become by just abstracting everything from them, having little to no digital literacy, having little to no customisation, hands on. Fuck you apple, Fuck you iToddlers

Mom, I'm tired of having software choices! I need to be locked into an ecosystem immediately!!
- You are assuming they know about and care about those issues. The teens in my life don't care.
  
  You are assuming I should be taken at face value :)

You're telling me in 2023, kids are using "Droid" again to refer to Android?
I hadn't heard that since they literally first came out.
Also, this isn't surprising. It was assumed that younger generations, those growing up with PCs, Tablets, Smartphones, etc, would become inherently skilled with their use. Turns out that was entirely false because it also turns out people don't want to learn what they aren't interested in. So if you don't care about anything more than TikTok, Insta, and Snapchat, then you don't learn anything more than what is necessary to operate them. And Apple makes this very easy in terms of not needing to relearn even an iota between their models. Android cannot say the same.
- Isnt "Droid" a Motorola trademark or something?
  
  I believe that Disney/Star Wars actually owns the trademark on the word "Droid" and they make money on every droid-phone sold.

I love ruining your group chats!

Kids are dumb
- They aren't. They're just easily manipulated.
  
  They are actually pretty dumb too

They must love having to ask their parents for a new phone every couple of years because they can't install apps due to their phone being out of date

My kids both have android phones (cheap ones) and if they demanded iPhones I'd tell them to gtfo. But my kids aren't brats and are content with their phones they have - cheap Samsungs - that are capable of running all the crap they're into - Tiktok, Snapchat, Whatsapp etc. Why would they even need anything more powerful?
Maybe there are private schools where phone snobbery is a thing and rich parents indulge their brats every desire. Maybe in that environment an iPhone holds an allure that an Android cannot match. But there are plenty of weird premium Android phones - flip phones, folding phones etc. so maybe that is nonsense too. If I were a spoiled brat with rich parents I might be demanding mommy & daddy buy me a Z Fold to show off. If my parents were super rich I might be demanding they get me a designer phone like a Vertu.

553 comments