It is just a statement of the obvious. Price tends to trump every other consideration, unless the difference is pretty big. See also airline ticket pricing and the race to the bottom in comfort & features. If there is no differentiator, a lot of people will just get Android phones because they cost less. They'll put up with quite a lot of abuse as long as they save a few bucks. It'd probably end up like gmail.
But, huge swaths of the public regularly pay much more than the minimum required to have better:
• Cars
• Clothing
• Restaurants
• Theater seats
These are just the first few that come to mind.
Now, is the difference between high- and low-end clothing "pretty big"? I guess it depends on what you mean, but both will fundamentally cover your body.
For airlines, people just want to get from point A to point B, and nothing else really matters at the end of the day. Even on higher end airlines, flying is unlikely to be a truly pleasant experience, unless maybe you pay almost an order of magnitude more for first class or something. People just want to get it over with.
I mean, I think we're saying the same thing here. But whereas I feel you're framing this as a "bug" in how consumers operate, I think they're behaving quite logically. People will pay more for things they actually care about. When they don't care, they choose the cheapest option.
Sorry, let me rephrase: This is appealing to the lowest common denominator and the most ignorant consumer.
Turns out that the curated experience of iPhone combined with a lot of fumbles from various android vendors has kept iPhone image of being the best and most desirable phone.
It is very vaguely feeling like if another big player was to come in they could actually make some waves that causes everyone else to jump. To the benefit of the users. But I doubt that will happen.
Would love to read a post about it explaining your experiences (all of the good and bad) and why you returned.
At that time, the only thing to keep me on the iPhone was iMessage - not that I didn't want to be a green bubble, it just the SMS experience sucks in general, RCS wasn't a thing you could use at that time. However, once I've met my future ex-wife, that stopped being an issue because we used fb messenger to talk.
Fast-forward to summer 2023, I'm in a process of divorce, watching Apple event. Get possessed by Steve Jobs, pause presentation, order new iPhone and Apple Watch Ultra for self-pickup, finish watching the presentation, drive to pick up my new phone and watch. Quick migration and up and running.
Android (Pixel) Pros:
- back button, the thing I knew I will miss a lot
- all pixel exclusive features like call screening
- I prefer stock android control center
- sideloading (i've made my own reddit client for android tv and used it for loooong time)
- kotlin > objc (irrelevant since swift)
- fingerprint scanner on the back of a phone was a genius decision
Android (Pixel) Cons:
- google inconsistent web interfaces
- apps have much lower quality
- Google wants you to use Chrome Cast, so you can connect your phone to a monitor
- Most non-stock android makes me want to vomit, specially Samsung
- Google didn't know how to position Pixel (is it a flagship? is it a mid-level? is it a low-end? wtf was pixel 5?)
- Watch experience is meh
- under screen fingerprint scanners suck
- Wired Android Auto sent me to therapy a few times (jk, but it was frustrating)
iPhone Pros:
- Apps better quality
- Better watch integration
- iMessage (won't elaborate)
- AirPods switching experience is near damn perfect
- idk just look and feel subjectively better
- Wireless Car Play easier to find than Wireless Android Auto
iPhone Cons:
- control center, so many times I've turned off wifi or bt instead of what I wanted to do
- lacking "back button experience" from android
- didn't use usbc until last year
This statement says a few extra things that Craig Federighi probably didn't realize he was saying.
1) It suggests that the iPhone wouldn't be able to hold its own in a market where interoperability with Android was easier. That demonstrates a lack of faith in it.
2) I've noticed that any time a corporation starts to clutch its fingers around its flagship product and make it less open, it starts to die. Oh sure, there's an upfront benefit perhaps in sales, but you're literally selling the future of your thing to profit from it today, by doing this.