I could never trust Apple given their track record.

Plus, their hardware is overpriced for what you get.

I genuinely have a hard time understanding the appeal. It seems to have the Gucci brand name, maybe integrations but I don't feel this is lacking on Android, and maybe privacy but I don't trust Apple for privacy.

But you do trust Google for privacy?

Hell no, Google is a data vacuum the likes of which has not been seen since Mega Maid [1].

Yet... I still use Android-based devices. They happen to be Google-free, i.e. no Google Services nor any Google apps, no Chrome or Chromium, no Google search engine. Instead of those Google apps I use things like ~Osmand (maps), Nextcloud (storage and some applications), etc. Firefox/Fennec and Privacy Browser for web-related things. A self-hosted Searx instance for searching. Peertube for video, Airsonic for audio, Libreoffice Online (integrated into Nextcloud) for that type of stuff, eJabberd for chat, now experimenting with Pixelfed for photo sharing, self-hosted mail/web/etc. I've been doing something like this for as long as I've been using Android, i.e. about 9 years.

[1] https://spaceballs.fandom.com/wiki/Mega_Maid

You'll have to trust someone. Both Google & Apple are in the same boat in that respect. My main reason to switch to Apple is the consistency. I am getting sick and tired of Google killing app after app I rely on only to release a new one with half the features. At this point I'm willing to shell out the extra money even though I agree that Apple hardware is borderline rip off levels of pricing.

Google is well known to monetize your data, it's their primary revenue after all. Apple sells hardware, while they could monetize your data, they are actively presenting themselves as a privacy company. So Apple looks better than Google in that regard.

Though I have no idea why would anyone trying to hide from Google. You can't really. Google spies on you everywhere, from every website. They already have all data and you can't do anything about it. It won't be much worse if they'll have a bit more data.

All it takes to keep Google from spying (apart from not using any of its products directly and not having a Google account) is a well-targeted block list on your router and in your ad blocker. They'll probably still be able to glean some data about you but it will be sparse and more or less useless for ad targeting - or maybe it is useful in that it tells them that 'you' don't like nor look at ads?

> Both Google & Apple are in the same boat in that respect.

I have to disagree here - Google explicitly monetizes their information on your activity on the Internet, Apple does not.