(unpaywalled version on archive.today: https://archive.ph/03cwZ)
Interesting figure that comes out of the article: 87% of US teens prefer iPhones. Also the explanations given aren’t quite surprising, I guess it’s mostly because of iMessage. Teens will feel like outcasts if they get an Android phone while their friends still use iMessage because of the green bubbles.
It’s actually hilarious how we allowed consumerism to take us this far and that we have now peer pressure over smartphones.
“You’re telling me in 2023, you still have a ’Droid? […] You gotta be at least 50 years old.”
ouch 😔
My entire life I’ve been reading news that only iPhones are cool, yet my social circles don’t care and have never said anything like this. I feel like this is a ‘Hello fellow kids’ type of investigative journalism, that is a secret apple ad.
I’m also convinced these are really just paid for by Apple ads. I’ve never seen anyone care about such a thing.
How often are you around teens though? My dad is a high school teacher and his students are always surprised and ask him why he has an Android and not an iPhone.
High school teacher here, and I see this a bit (although I have an iPhone)
I’ve heard this is an American thing. I’m Canadian, and my kids are teenagers and only one friend they have has an iPhone, the rest are on Android (as are all of my friends now, the last one went over to Android last year)
Yes this is definitely a major American thing. There isn’t really anything equivalent to the green bubble shaming outside of America. And I would Hazard a guess that this is also more prevalent in more affluent coastal areas. As well as especially on the West coast. Apple’s back yard.
Most tech “news” is paid by the subject of the said news.
Nah. That’s North America. iPhones in North America have become a status symbol, you have to be available on iMessage, otherwise they’ll contact you by SMS. I know a lot of people in Canada who have no other messaging app (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc.). They only communicate via iMessage.
Unless you care about privacy (signal), why even have a second messaging app? I have the phone to make calls and send texts. The default shit works well on iphone and android.
It’s called the network effect. The rest of the world (except China) uses WhatsApp so if you want to communicate with them you use whatever they use.
Just off the top of my head…
- High-quality media (SMS/MMS has low size limits)
- No cost for international messaging
- Works on WiFi without cell reception
- Delivery notifications let you know the message wasn’t lost; read notifications are also an option, but some people turn them off for privacy
- Many have desktop clients so you can type on a real keyboard when you’re at a computer (there are sync solutions for SMS with additional software)
- If you care about mass surveillance (I think you should), several chat apps use strong cryptography
Because SMS is unreliable. On several occasions, SMS messages have either been delayed by hours or simply never reached their destination. Mind you, that’s my experience here in Canada.
My family uses Whatsapp and my work uses GroupMe. If we just text, things get lis5t or come in oit of order.
Eh, that was my highschool experience at least. It was never super serious or anything, like it’s not like I was being bullied lol, but I was regularly teased about it in my friend group.
When I was in highschool, the phone was attached to the wall in the kitchen. Simpler times.
When i was in school, you could throw the phone against a wall and the wall got damaged. Simpler times.
How do you do fellow consumer
Who the fuck calls Android devices “'Droids” unironically? This couldn’t have been real teenagers. Not ones from the past decade at the very least.
What you are referring to as droids is in fact Android/Linux, or as I’ve recently started calling it, Android+Linux.
…Good one! :)
Who the fuck calls Android devices “'Droids” unironically?
Motorola 👀
Not ones from the past decade at the very least.
guess we can thank TikTok and Snapchat for that?
Psst. Side bar.
I like retro stuff.
Oh my god. I didn’t even see that! Lmao
Removed by mod
I’ve never run into that, but I feel like it’s a good pivotable moment:
"Yeah Bob, this closed source walled garden isn’t playing nice with the group chat… good point, let’s move to Signal where everyone can have a good experience. "
Going from one app (iMessage) to two isn’t an unambiguous win though. All the iPhone users’ experience got worse.
To be clear, this is such minor shit that the real answer is, “ok, I guess we’ll live with it because that’s how we communicate with our friends now”, but it is certainly nicer for them if everyone is on an iPhone and they don’t have to solve that problem.
deleted by creator
Our group moved to a private discord. Solved that problem.
I hope Sup. will take off. That will get a lot more people using the Fediverse in a format they prefer if there’s a FB Messager alternative attached to it.
I’m 36, have had windows mobile pocket PCs thru HTCs and eventually Samsung Galaxies, and have absolutely been shamed several times by different friend groups over the last decade plus lfor not having iMessage. It def ramped up in the later 2010s
Can you expand on your experiences? Was the social pressure constant, or just a comment? Do you think it impacted your relationships with your friends?
I have, in my dating life, gotten lightening charging cables to have around the house.
It’s never fun to have someone ask you for a charger, you saying “Sure, use the fast charger right there”, and not have the lightening cable for their phone. But it’s also a catch-22, if you DO have the cable they need then its “Why do you have this cable, you don’t have a iphone”.
“Why do you have this cable, you don’t have a iphone”
It’s like having some spare toothbrushes and women’s hygiene stuff just in case someone stays over. You’ll score points for being thoughtful, but on the other hand they’ll be like: waaait a minute …
Top iphone tip, heh -
When guests leave little reminders around the house, keep them in labeled zip loc bags, not in a general lost and found bin.
Far less awkward when they ask where their stuff is and you pull out a huge box of jewelry and clothing - “Can you describe your earrings for me?” - never goes down well.
Yeah, much better to go: “What’s your name again? Ah Jessica, let’s see… Jade, Jane, Jasmine… ah right Jessica, here’s your stuff!”
[email protected], now also the best place for dating tips.
Personally, I would appreciate the thoughtfulness of it.
“it’s an ex girlfriend’s” is a good ice breaker.
Apple has a great advertisement department. They are great at pumping such news stories.
I mentioned it in another comment, but this was real in my experience. At least in highschool. It’s not like I was bullied or anything, but I was teased about it quite a bit and honestly it made me want to switch to iPhone just to fit in.
deleted by creator
“This unbiased and purely informative piece of journalism sponsored by Apple.”
Only in theaters July 21st. 😊
Theater at home early with Apple TV+ Ultra!
No one gives a shit which phone you have.
Also, no one uses the term “droid”.
This article reads like “fellow kids” nonsense.
I think that is mostly a US thing, as I see way more Androids in Europe than iPhones. But I could be wrong
Yeah, it’s definitely a Yank thing.
Yep. Primary chat protocol is still SMS. The general population hasn’t latched on to WhatsApp or others like many countries have.
I really struggle with switching stuff to WhatsApp just because it’s Facebook. But yeah, every time I go to another country I end up having to download it for something.
fuck whatsapp
Get signal instead
say that to my entire country
Can you try Signal in those cases? If you tell people “I’d rather not use Facebook stuff if possible, can we try Signal” there’s a good chance they either have it installed too or are willing to throw it on.
I’d take SMS over Facebook any day.
deleted by creator
We like to think that but if you want to reach people who are on Whatsapp you’re gonna have to install Whatsapp. And the other way around, if people have a group for whatever (plan a group outing, kids’ soccer team, tenants’ association etc.) on Whatsapp and one person is not on Whatsapp, tough luck buddy, they get left out.
Apple framed it as an “iPhone vs Android” issue for their own reasons but the larger issue (social network peer pressure) is very much a thing in Europe too.
And it’s so outdated too. The iPhone was a “cool” status symbol in like 2010 and 2014. Not so much when everyone has them.
I thought that time period was more a Blackberry thing, and to a lesser extent the Sony Xperia and Galaxy series was taking off
Nah, since 2007 when the iPhone came out everyone had to have one. Then the 2nd model had GPS and apps in 2008 and blew the doors wide open. By 2010 HTC was releasing phones like the incredible and the “droid” moniker was in full swing - with Apple consistently mopping the floor.
I’d say iPhone fervor kind of died down around 2010 actually.
100%, I’ve lived both in the US and Europe, and Androids are definitely more prevalent in Europe than in the US.
Judging by the amount of times I hear the same ringtone as mine, I think where I live in the UK is about 70-80% Samsung Android phones.
I live in Brazil and don’t know many people with iPhones, most have Android phones
Definitely not in Germany, I think. People here are obsessed with apple. But im not native German, so maybe im wrong.
Idk, I see plenty of both, and most people I know are capable of having objective discussions about it.
Objective discussions about why apple is better?
sigh
deleted by creator
I think the most frustrating part is Apple is willfully hampering the ability to intercommunicate between iPhones and Androids and people aren’t like “Oh, fuck them for doing that”, they’re like “Oh, Android sucks.” Like it’s just a wildly successful and incredibly scummy tactic to convince people that Apple devices are superior and people didn’t just fall for it, they’re willfully diving in headfirst.
It’s a shame, really, because I do think they make some pretty good hardware. Might not be my thing, but they make a good phone. That said, I’ll never patronize them because of the bullshit I’ve had to endure trying to communicate with my iPhone-owning family.
Teenagers are well known for their experience and insight
Removed by mod
Holy fuck, kids are cringe. I hate this blue bubble elitism so much. Glad it’s not a really a thing in Europe.
According to my 16 yo daughter it most certainly is a thing in the EU. She would never buy an android.
According to my 12 yo son iPhone’s are for dumb people. I’m not sure if that’s really his opinion or he just says it to annoy his big sister.
In either case, your son restores my faith in humanity.
I’m in Europe and see the opposite of the article. Xiaomi (incl. Poco and Redmi), Samsung (the Z flip is popular here), Pixel (is pretty popular too) and others are everywhere. People rely on third party apps in Europe so the phone doesn’t really matter anymore.
It’s OK, American kids have a lot to deal with: school shootings, adults that don’t give a fuck about the youth and actively shut doors to a better life with their dying breath, climate change, more diseases, and more. I can understand them being a little bitchy.
For whatever reason the US never moved on from SMS… and Apple took advantage of that.
To be fair I am not a “kid”, but I have friends from highschool I still meet from time to time. And everybody used to have an android phone, now I am the only one left. A lot of them are company phones, but tbf I barely know anybody who doesn’t use an iPhone. And ykw, I get it. I get my phones second hand for the price of 10 kebabs, and fix them when needed, run linageOS, fuck around with magisk when needed and so on. But actually if you don’t want to do that, android phones are a fucking awful deal. They are no cheaper than an iphone, they are no more expandable, no easier to repair, come with no more accessories, and these days with safetynet and hardware based trusted boot no more open and moddable. on the other hand get way worse software support, get way shorter support, the servicing is usually way less streamlined, even the best are built worse, and they have little support for apple accessories, which are best in class especially the airpods pro being the biggest dealbreaker of the lot. Honestly a new android phone, would be a hard fucking sell for me as well.
That’s more or less true, counterpoint: there’s the Fairphone.
Regardless of that, for the purposes of the average person, any phone, iOS or Android from even 10 years ago is more than serviceable, while for those who game on their phone, maybe 2/3 years old phones are still holding up. The innovations in the space have been really flattening out for some time, so I’d say it doesn’t make much of a difference, because the average person doesn’t care about the newest OS versions for its up to date security, maybe for the features, but there hasn’t been something very groundbreaking recently IMO.(Still, we should be mad at Google for allowing Android to be the ever out of date platform, but this was more a perspective of what the normal users need)
Well yeah the fairphone exists, but it is CATASTROPHICALLY expensive, (not that well made), and has a relatively old midrange chipset. And no headphone jack. I think 1 of these three would make it a very appealing product, 2 would make it worth considering, all three simply means, it isn’t good enough, even in a vacume. Sorry. And I really like the idea.
579€ for a phone that should potentially last you a decade or more doesn’t seem that expensive to me, chipset and jack are a pity though, I have to agree
I mean, let’s be real here. That decade is very theoretical. These midrange chipsets are kinda slow from the start. High end phones with absoulutely top of the line chipsets, with high powerlimits last a decade.
Edit: Also the parts are pretty expensive to be honest, and the price of the case is a fucking ripoff. 30 Euros for a case that isn’t even nice is just taking the piss.
Also 579 is for the entry version with only 6 gigabytes of ram, which is the amount that my note 8 had in 2018. You need to pay 649 for the 8 gig one, and if you want to keep the phone, you really want the 8gig one.
Edit2: Also you need to buy the more expensive 8/256 one, for the specled green back cover, which again is just taking the fucking piss. Not the mention the self admittedly chinese bought unrepairable TWS they were peddaling with it. IK IK you got it for free for a short while. Now however you have to pay for it.
Yeah, you’re right honestly, it’s not the best, but I do hope they improve and become more popular in the future.
Wishful thinking here, but if it picks up more, the prices might also drop a little alongside that
I’m 14 and I hate iphones I prefer Android phones rooted with a custom rom
This news just in: teenagers can be arseholes to each other.
Back in my day, it was over the brand of sneakers or jeans that you wore.
I’m amazed it’s 2023 and we’ve still not universally adopted a protocol better than SMS. Thanks Apple
I am a teen and I love android becuase it give me freedom I can do whatever I want to do by rooting or installing Custom ROM. Also It’s Privacy Focused(degoogled my Tab + Root). Other Teenager don’t know shit about privacy and FLOSS fuck them I don’t care.
Same boat here, no one else in my school cares about their privacy. They take everything for granted. They only see the surface level of the world around them.
I would never daily drive an iPhone. Or use any of the social medias they use. Or vape, vaping is a big one here in the UK.
I do think you’re a bit too hostile there though, it’s important we voice our concerns and not just lose all hope for them, even if they are hostile towards us.
That fuck them mentality won’t get you anywhere. Your phone is a communications device. You need others to be using free protocols and software, otherwise your phone will be useless.
Apple has better privacy features than Google.
I don’t even like IPhones, but aren’t they one of the most private?
Apple only got around to encrypting iCloud data last December.
The FBI dispute happened because the guy in that case was not doing iCloud at all. In that sense they’re private. But if you’ve ever had more than one iOS device or are using iCloud backups they already had access to it.
Using iphones, you have to trust apple, because everything is closed source and no one can audit the code to make sure that apple isn’t being nefarious.
Using AOSP (the open source android project) like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS, you don’t have to trust–you know. All the code is open source and is continuously audited.
The same can be said about Mac’s and Windows (both closed source) compared to Linux (open source).
Privacy is more than just a choice, it’s a conscious effort.
They’ll also say they’re too smart to be affected by advertising.
This has to be a US thing, in Switzerland there is not a single person I communicate with using iMessage. It’s WhatsApp or Signal.
