But you can get a phone for 3-500 (xiaomi, oneplus) bucks that would be 90% as good. Samsung phones usually have BOGO deal so you can get them for 3-500 as well.

>that would be 90% as good

Maybe to you but I've tried several other phones that are nowhere near that close to Apple. I'd give the best non-Apple phone I've ever used a 70% and even that might be being generous.

A lot of people say what you do, but personally I don't understand that argument.

I'm typing on a $200 Huawei , and on my side there's a $900 iPhone paid by my employer that I can't even get bothered to use. I even switched to the iPhone for 4 weeks while abroad (free data roaming) and just went back to the Huawei when I returned; I just like it more.

I'm in the same boat. I work for a mobile telecoms provider so have my iPhone upgraded for free every 18 months.

I still prefer my personal handset (Honor 10 right now, love it).

The iPhone 8+ is closed and boring to me.

That's fine. That's your preference. No one is saying you can't have a preference. I prefer the iPhone and none of the Android phones that I've tried and used regularly hold a candle to it. The argument was that these less-expensive phones are 90% of the way there and I disagree. I used to like to tinker with phones a lot. Now I just want something that works every time I use it without fuss. There's no phone that's close to where the iPhones are in those terms.

Of course. I'm just saying that for most people their phone is by far their most important and intensively used product they own.

And so if you need a product like that I am sure you would be willing to absorb higher prices. Which is what people are doing.

I always hear that there are issues with Android devices getting the latest security updates, etc since there are manufacturer and carrier dependencies.

Is that still the case or just urban myth at this point?

Cheaper phones rarely get more 2 software updates, and security patches can take years to roll out. This is mainly because manufacturers have no incentive to spend money on patching/updating software that a small number of people use. https://www.statista.com/statistics/271774/share-of-android-... Google is working on a new OS for the pixel which will attempt to solve this fragmented Android issue.

I believe Android has gotten better about pushing security updates, at least to most flagship phones. But they still lag behind on OS updates.

Turns out that last 10% is where the majority of value is created.

Not even sarcastically true. That's why I'd get an Apple, to get some polish. Apple is far from perfect, but the rest is so far behind..

Definitely not the case in rest of the world. US is where iOS is equally dominating as Android. Probably due to social pressure or everyone having an iPhone. Android is still majority overall everywhere else.

Not just the US. iOS is also majority in all the anglosphere countries: uk, canada, australia

Then it has about 70% in japan. Europe is a bit lower, around 30-35%. And then the result of the world is android by a vast margin.

So in all the rich markets, iphone puts in a majority or good showing. Whereas android dominates at lower price points where the iphone doesn't compete.

http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/japan

You can click around this site to see stats on different regions. Mind you I don't know where they source from.

Also, https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ios-market-share-us-eu...

https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5a5e13a228eecc26008b5...

No majority in GB as well. France is highest in mainland EU at 22.7.

How about this site then? https://www.statista.com/statistics/260415/market-share-held...

Majority of the profit? Majority of the revenue? Android has the majority of the unit volume, definitely.

You don’t have to buy new. I just bought a second hand 7 plus for around £350, and it’s excellent.

It’s a couple of generations old now, but it’s in immaculate condition with a good battery and will easily last me a couple of years unless I do something stupid.