According to a survey of 7,100 American teens last year conducted by investment bank Piper Sandler, 87% of teens currently have an iPhone, and 87% plan on sticking with the brand for their next phone.
But the stigma regarding Android phones is mostly an American phenomenon, at least to the degree to which it affects purchase habits. Worldwide, per the same Statcounter report, Androids represent the significant majority of all smartphones, holding a 71% share of sales compared with Apple’s 28%.
This article promises in the headline that American teens "have their reasons" for preferring iPhones, but it never tells us what they are aside from "all my friends have one so I want one too." Which, you know, is fair enough, I guess. It explains much of the world, after all.
Still, 87% is remarkable. That gets all the way down to families earning less than $20,000—below the official poverty level. And yet they can still spring for an iPhone for the kids? wtf?
Aww, don't go all grumpy old man (it me) on us! ("These kids and their used Chevy Impalas. Where do they think they're going in such a hurry." Some grumpy old man in 1969, probably.)
A mobile phone is about as necessary for Americans born in the 21st century as , say, radio was after WW II. You didn't hear commentators complaining about kids and their danged radios back in the 1970s and 80s.
(Wait, I'm just being told that you did...all the time. Some old fogies may remember a great Russell Baker NYT column about the popularity of boom boxes and the "mystery" of working-class young men to spend money on one *and* lugging it around: "If you had a way to win the admiration of your friends, impress lots of girls, and piss off every authority figure who'd ever given you a hard time, wouldn't you do it?" (paraphrasing).
And a mobile phone today is *way* more versatile, useful, and practical than a portable radio/sound system was then.
P. S. Adjusted for inflation, an iPhone today is cheaper than a boom box in 1980.
What boom box did you buy in 1980 that cost $250?
Mine was barely over $100.
Thanks for your questions. I just looked up the cost of a high-end boom box in 1980, the cost of a new iPhone today, and used an inflation calculator.
Would you prefer to get this brand new boom box or the classic Sanyo stereo boom box from the 80s that it likely was trying to replicate in design?
Now I'm going outside to sit on the porch. Maybe some kids will come along and I can yell at them to get off my lawn.
A mobile phone is about as necessary for Americans born in the 21st century as , say, radio was after WW II.
Kevin's not asking why Americans teens have cell phones. He's asking why they overwhelming opt for Apple over Android.
You can get older models of iPhones (and Android too, I'm sure) pretty cheap, and if you're mainly texting, making and sending short videos, an old version is probably fine.
This. There are a lot of used iPhones out there, especially since Apple itself finally decided to go into the resale market for iPhones a few years back. On top of that, there are a lot of deals where your phone plan basically breaks up the cost of a new phone over months, so it's not as bad.
I haven't bought a new phone for 15 years. My current Android is a Nexus 6, bought two years ago on eBay for $50. It does everything I need perfectly well.
Many people are not paying the full price for an iPhone. You can often get them free as part of a phone plan or used/refurbished/handed down at a step discount.
Many people are not paying the full price for an iPhone.
For most consumers, "buying" your cell phone via your carrier is actually a more expensive method of acquiring one. The cheapest way to do it is to pay cash and keep the same model for at least four years.
That's only true if you have cash on hand.
OT:
36H 21/0000Z 33.4N 116.7W 50 KT 60 MPH...INLAND
The projected winds are 10 MPH higher. You're going to have a crazy experience starting Sunday late morning.
A couple times now I've seen that someone having an Android phone is a complete deal killer when it comes to getting dates, and one of those people was around age 30.
The recommendation being that if you have an Android phone you should hide it and don't let anyone see it until maybe the 8th or 9th date when you might be able to so shock them they'll just buy you an iPhone.
Man, you must be living under a rock on this one. 😛
The answer is simple: There's a huge stigma associated with being a "green bubble". iMessage is simply the best texting experience in America, and once you get used to it you actually do find yourself getting annoyed when a "green bubble" finds its way into a group chat, limiting your functionality significantly.
Other part of the world, particularly in Asia, do all of their chatting on apps like WeChat, so the iMessage thing there is a non-issue.
This is absolutely the correct answer! This is why Google is trying to strongarm Apple into letting them use the same protocol iPhones use (and the 87% explains why they won’t do it). See: https://www.android.com/get-the-message/
The most boldfaced corporate scheme I have ever seen
Also, most of my elderly relatives have iPhones and iPads (I think because it’s nice and user friendly)
You have it completely backwards.
Google's been trying to get Apple to adopt the universal standard RCS to maintain interoperability across carriers and operating systems.
Apple refuses to support a universal standard.
That was supposed to be sarcasm.
First of all it is hard to call something a universal standard when there are effectively only two products and they do it differently. Secondly RCS is supposed to be a standard but Google keeps implementing things that are not in the standard. The standard has not been updated in years yet Google added end-to-end encryption to android earlier this year. The main difference between Apple and Google when it comes to messaging is that Apple doesn't pretend to adhere to a standard beyond the base SMS one.
Apple and Android users can send each other messages just fine, so this is mainly about fancy features. Apple added a lot of features to its messaging protocol, and Google is playing catch up. The RCS standard is basically a Google standard, but it's only offers a subset of what Apple supports. I can understand why Google is pushing this, but I can't see what Apple would gain by supporting it.
I'll bite: What makes iMessage 'the best texting experience in America'? I've been informed by more than one person it doesn't play well with others to name just one con.
Actually, "playing nicely with others" is a huge con when you want regular updates to text features. A "walled garden" means all of your friends get the new features, too.
So, no, it doesn't. And yes, you agree my sources are correct: Apple is deliberately as a matter of choice writing its app to specifically not play well with others.
What i find hard to wrap my head around is that you already knew this; what are you, one of those Apple fanbois who didn't get them memo that to be one is considered declasse these days?
Lol, there needs to be a "Godwin's Law" written for Apple vs Android discussion on the internet. The first one to use the word "fanboi" loses. Usually takes about 30 seconds.
Anyway, cool, enjoy your green bubbles. Everyone I know (except my dad) and apparently all of Gen Z will be over here having a blast.
Sez the guy who just lost a contest to somebody who didn't know they were playing.
You really shoud ignore ScentOfViolets. He never argues in good faith.
Personally I'm saddened by this because in the apple ecosystem, apple claims ownership over your device, and can dictate what you put on a device you ostensibly own. The google ecosystem isn't perfect, but I won't get my purchases taken away from me if I root my device and use it how I want to instead of how apple dictates I'm allowed to use something I own.
Beyond that, when people raised that the green bubble was causing kids to get bullied, Tim Cook told concerned parents that the solution was to buy their kids an iPhone, which is an utter repulsive answer to bullying.
I own an ipad and a google phone, and the experience honestly is basically the same, so I mostly choose the phone provider who isn't acting like they have dictator level power over devices you own
because they are the OEM.
I have an iPhone and send texts to and receive texts from friends and businesses with Android and other phone systems. I'm not sure what "not plays well with others" means in this context. Google has iPhone envy and wants Apple to support all Android features and eliminate any superset features. Maybe they can get the Chinese government to enforce this, but it would be problematic elsewhere.
Text sent from an Android to an iPhone is harder to read. Android to iPhone pictures are blurred.
I'm dirt poor and my kids have iPhones and it's because of family. There's always *someone* willing to give them one for xmas or whatever.
You missed out on your free Obamaphones?
Aside from what else has been said or implied: There are ways to get cheaper iPhones (older used models, with a service plan, gifted from family, etc.) and the fact that smart phones are practically a necessity these days, and many people own and use them INSTEAD of a computer …
I'm getting so tired of the "How do poor people afford a phone/big-screen TV/etc.? hyuck hyuck!" line that's been going around for ages now. When folks like Kevin were younger, things like rent or mortgage, college, and healthcare were a proverbial drop in the bucket compared to now. Meanwhile luxuries like a tube TV or a quality stereo system could easily cost a year's worth of paychecks to save up for or to pay off.
For today's youth that's been totally flipped around. If you shop around for a sale a lot of folks can easily buy a smart phone or a flat-screen TV with one week's paycheck. It's all those necessities that drain the bank account every month or maybe need to be skipped if the money's just not there.
And if the rest of life is so miserable, God forbid they spend a bit of money on a device that's both useful and entertaining for their daily life.
I don't understand the iPhone thing with Gen Z, either. It's especially weird from an adult perspective when you see the teen with a cellphone screen so smashed that they can barely use it - but they'd rather suffer that for months until they can get a new iPhone than get a cheap android. The teens I know are horrified by the cheap phones I get.
There have always been "luxury" goods that teens wanted desperately, despite there being cheaper alternatives. But I cant think of any that have the market penetration of the iPhone. Guess jeans were all the rage when I was young, but I don't think more than 30% of kids actually owned them, even in my suburban high school.
My kids are younger (border Z and Alpha), and the iPhone obsession is not as big in their crowd. It may be because they are desperate for any phone, since only some of their friends have cell phones. Or maybe because they aren't dating yet, so they aren't using the phone to weed people out of the dating pool. They want to text their preexisting friends, not find a hookup. Or maybe the iPhone obsession is what uncool old people (you know, 25 year olds) do, and they want to be different. Kind of like the way tattoos scream Millennial, which to them is ancient.
I don't understand the iPhone thing with Gen Z, either.
Kevin doesn't provide numbers on other generations, so it's not clear he has much of a point. Maybe Gen Z Americans opt for iPhone at far higher percentages than older cohorts, or maybe (as I suspect) this "factoid" is simply reflective of the fact that Apple maintains an overwhelming market share in the US in general—Cupertino's dominance isn't confined solely to this age cohort.
An iPhone a few generations back will cost a couple hundred bucks, and usually let's you pay it off over two years. For my kids' iPhones, we're talking $20 a month for the hardware.
Meanwhile, the service is $45 a month whether you are on iPhone or Android.
the stigma regarding Android phones is mostly an American phenomenon, at least to the degree to which it affects purchase habits. Worldwide, per the same Statcounter report, Androids represent the significant majority of all smartphones, holding a 71% share of sales compared with Apple’s 28%.
The US is vastly richer than "the world": the above numbers compare a place with a per capita GDP of nearly 80k with one that manages only about 12k. I wonder what kind of phones teens in Norway or Switzerland use. Even here in China where I live, Apple appears to be the market leader among the affluent.
I miss the days when the most furious, snark-filled arguments online were between users of Windows PCs and Apple Mac owners.
The vast majority of Android phones sold on the international market are super cheap devices that Americans would find infuriating to use. As for the poor buying iPhones with carrier financing it’s a few dollars extra a month on their bill.
People with iPhones complaining about battery life, meanwhile some Android users going a day without charging because their battery is 5000 mAh to their 2700 mAh.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think that depends on how old one's iPhone is. I decided to move on from my 10X mainly because the battery life had gone to utter shit after 4.5 years. Couldn't leave the house for an extended period of time without a power source in tow. I contemplated buying a replacement battery, but my strong impression is the good folks at the Apple Store aren't crazy about doing that (they'd rather sell you a new phone?).
So, a few weeks ago I finally broke down and bought a fancy new 14 Pro. It's certainly a nice phone though hardly a life-changing purchase. Battery life, though, is massively improved (I can get close to two whole days if usage is moderate). We'll see how long the better performance lasts.
Interestingly, I notice Apple's advertising in the US suggests you can trade in an 11 series or later, but I bought mine in Taipei, and they let me trade in a Xs.
Apple will accept trade in of anything, but might not give you much for something going to the recycling center instead of being refurbished.
The green vs blue bubble effect in the Messages app is not just about branding. Blue bubbles indicate secure, encrypted messages with access to all of the special features of Messages. Green bubbles indicate that the text messages have defaulted to the old SMS standard and there is almost no access to the special features of Messages. If just one person on a group chat is using an Android phone it drags everyone down to that level.
I’m skeptical about this survey. There was one like this a while back with similar results. I suspect that this skews to wealthier families and is not representative of the population at large. However, I suspect that it is mostly valid.
As others have pointed out. There are many ways to get a less expensive iPhone. Apple has worked hard for several years to make iPhones last a long time. They supply software updates for at least about five years. I think they may supply security updates for longer than that. Unlike with Android phones, iPhones are super easy to update. You can also get a battery update for less than $100 which solves the main problem with an old phone.
Are you saying that Gen Z even knows these features exist, let alone cares about them? That has most certainly _not_ been the case in my own idiosyncratic experience. For that matter, I don't know any iPhone user of whatever age cohort who cares about that particular feature. As per usual, this is just a divisive Apple strategy to further the bottom line; nothing more, nothing less. The young folk are sooo easily manipulated.
iPhons are perfect for Gen Z because they were brought up in a surveillance society. Goes all the way back to the McMartin School moral panic. Remember all those milk cartons with pictures of kids (usually abducted by a family member, not a stranger driving an unmarked white van). Then it graduated to calling CPS if a mom let her nine year old child go alone to the playground. And then there's the encroaching corporate surveillance that so many of us accept without complaining or caring (when you install an app, do you check to see what it has access to and what it might do with it, like share w/ third parties?)
In a supine society, an iPhone is ideal. Effectively a limited selection of basic apps, but a panoply of frivolous games and entertainment/social-media trends.
I repeat, a limited selection of basic apps. iPhones are usually pre-loaded w/ enough that most users just accept them as they are. No need to think at all. On the other hand, Androids, by their very nature, have a much wider ecosystem of utilities and apps to consider, True, you have to do some investigating and thinking, but is that so hard?
No, iPhones don't have fewer apps. That's just silly.
I 100% agree that the green bubble stigma is real.
But I think the other item that hasn’t been mentioned is software support for upgrades. Google never figured out a way to let users get a reliable method of software upgrades due to the fractured nature of the operating systems being controlled by the carriers needing to collaborate with the hardware manufacturers. When I bought my Samsung Note 8, Android 8 had already been released by Google, and eventually the Note 8 was update to Android 8, which counted as 1 upgrade. That meant that the only additional official update it could get was to Android 9. So, only 2 official updates, one of which was already released for other phones when the Note 8 was released, for a phone that cost $1,000.
It was a gorgeous phone, but to only get 1.5 upgrades before end of life for a $1,000 phone is not a smart business plan in the long run. Why pay that much for something that is obsolete in two years? So, I switched to an iPhone that will provide software updates for a full 5 years for a phone that costs the same amount. No brainer.
And that is why there are so many high quality hand me downs in the iPhone world. They are still running fine and getting OS upgrades. Whereas your android phone is end of life after two years (three in some cases, but no where near 5 like iOS).
It's a spectrum. If you want good patch support, that's the niche the Pixel fills.
The green bubble stigma is 100% intentional. Apple won't implement standards because they know that peer pressure is better marketing than any ad campaign. That's why Tim Cook has more or less given tacit approval to iphone bullying. It's a repulsive sales technique. Regardless of if RCS is the right standard, it's the phone infrastructure, and all players should be meeting a minimal bar. If Apple wants to use bullying as their marketing strategy, it's time for the government to step in.
You can get and keep running a really old iPhone. Which is much, much more difficult to do than with an old Android.
It's not just fashion.
And I say that as the staunch Android holdout in my family. Everyone else has iPhones. And as someone who holds onto their phone for about four years each.
If you want an iPhone, you don't have to buy a new model from Apple!
If you want to buy you can do so from eBay - you get a good condition iPhone 11 for $300, cheaper if you go older.
But even that misses the point. In spite of what Team Android keeps trying to claim, most iPhones last more or less forever (ten years or more; the usual failure condition is that the battery swells and eventually pops the screen off).
Which means there is a huge pool of old iPhones that simply get handed down.
For example Mrs Lawyer upgrades her iPhone and gives the two year old model to her maid. The maid gives her 4 year old model to her teenage daughter. The teenage daughter gives her 6 year old model to the 7 year old son. And thus the circle of life.
Mrs Lawyer (not exactly deliberately, but she's happy to do it) is sustaining the ongoing iPhones of that family of three.
Hell, I do the same thing. My sisters have my old iPhones and iPads. I gave my old Apple Watch to the secretary at my dentist because I saw she was still wearing an old model 0. You can get some small amount of money by turning these things in to Apple, or by selling on eBay; but most people seem to prefer helping out their family and people around them by handing them on. It doesn't hurt that Apple provides a very easy way to be confident that you have wiped the device completely before handing it on.