In my experience people choose iPhones because they are a status symbol, and because Apple has become synonymous with good design and good taste. Due to marketing efforts, Android devices are still seen as the "cheap option" or for people who don't care about their image. Many people are also already locked into the Apple ecosystem through desktop/laptop Macs, iCloud, etc., so getting a non-Apple phone would introduce a lot of friction into their experience.

Part of it is also that iOS used to be quite far ahead of Android when it came to usability and polish. Android has since mostly caught up, but there is an advantage to being a first mover, and the people who didn't like Android back when it was much worse have since gotten locked into Apple's ecosystem, even if they never used Apple products before that.

I don't think most people seriously think about App Store curation as any of top reasons why they have an iPhone.

Status symbol where? That can’t be the case majority of the time in the US. Every other person has an iPhone. Literally.

But iPhones and Android devices do have functionality that users can’t obtain anywhere else. What alternative smartphone ecosystem could the average user choose as a substitute? To say nothing of the fact a smartphone is essentially required in and of itself.

Once a user has chosen a smartphone ecosystem large switching costs come into play.

If a significant amount of your customers choose your phone because it is stylish that could just as well demonstrate there is no price competition to speak of.

Keyword being "perceived."

The argument of "don't like it, use android" is bad faith but lets go with it since many people suggest it.

Ok now I'm on android and google/samsung is spying on everything. The android crowd will say "dont like it, leave"

Ok so what do I use?