As a current student this is a huge part of it.

People with androids (green messages) will not be added to group chats because it turns everyone else's messages green. When making plans they will usually get texted individually but it can unintentionally lead to exclusion.

Texting someone with an android is much less convenient than using an iPhone and anecdotally this is one reason kids choose iPhones over Android.

As a parent of teenager, it’s exactly that. Android phone messes up the iMessage group chat. So kids with Android phone tend to get excluded. Apple is obviously in no hurry to fixed issue. iMessage turn out to be the stickiest social network for the next generation.

Apple can fix it but there is nothing stopping Android from implementing something that'll make things not change color.

How would they do this? iOS controls the colors on iOS, no?

He’s not wrong but the niece isn’t wrong either. Style and being cool matter more to some people than others.

Does anyone consider the possibility that she prefers the overall iphone experience, and is not choosing it to be cool? Or are you all Android owners who don’t realize that people who prefer Apple products tend to actually like them?

It's like a kid getting upset when they don't get the porsche they wanted for their birthday but a second hand car.

Does anyone consider the possibility that she prefers the overall Porsche experience, and is not choosing it to be cool? ...

It's the same thing. She got a functioning smartphone but not the more expensive one she wanted.

It’s not like that at all. It’s not about price. Most kids who prefer iphones would take a $250 iphone SE over a $900 Samsung. Hell, I would even take that deal.

I'd take a $250 SE over a $400 android, definitely, but not over a new samsung galaxy.

Preferring an iPhone is one thing, but the "tears in your eyes" comment from OP makes me think this is 100% a status thing. Also that I remember what is was like being a teenager in the US.

Some of it is status, but I think what would trigger an emotional swell like that is the potential of being embarrassed by having a knock-off communication device--and I think Androids are viewed this way by many teenagers. And you're exposed the moment you reply to a text.

There's a great example of what its like to wear the wrong thing in Atlanta Season 2 episode 10, which centers around a Fubu t-shirt.

Actually, your comment just reminded me exactly of that feeling when I was a kid and got a Gobot for a present instead of a Transformer.

> Does anyone consider the possibility that she prefers the overall iphone experience, and is not choosing it to be cool?

Does she have experience with both platforms, to be able to prefer one over the other?

Probably, but you don’t even necessarily need to have experience with both. It’s perfectly reasonable to prefer something that is familiar or compatible.

One need look no further than asking lifelong Windows owners if they would be happy with their next computer being a Mac. They’ll likely tell you hell no, whether they have used one before or not.

Ding ding. She doesn't, I think it's a status / inclusion thing, but I'm sympathetic to that as well. I grew up poor