I'm always suspicious of "I switched from Brand X to Brand Y and Brand X was better for reasons I can't fully articulate as they are almost subconcious". It seems obvious that people moving from one thing to another are going to be affected by small differences that someone coming to it fresh wouldn't be bothered by.

The fact that everyone knows Apple has better UI only adds to this, but you can find the same thing in a thousand different Windows to Mac, Windows to Linux, Gnome to KDE or vice versa stories. Some people will get quite irate about how crappy the new UI is, even (somewhat tellingly) if it's a Mac or iPhone that they're moving to after becoming accustomed to something else.