The US market is such a weird one. Apple owns more than 80% of all teens over there and Android might struggle to expand there in the future. However, outside the US, Android is still prevalent in many markets (and will grow in many third world countries), iMessage isn't that used, and blue/green bubble argument does not exist.

As someone who switched from android to iPhone after using android exclusively (only because I’m sick to shit of my devices breaking themselves at about the 2 year mark - and I don’t mean software):

Apple is a fucking nightmare to swap to if you use your device for anything beyond the absolute basics. I’m honestly probably going to swap off it sooner rather than later.

It’s a miserable experience to go from being able to do basically whatever you want… to not even being able to change to a specific ringtone without paying for it or going through some ridiculous process on Mac to convert. (And before some random asshole pipes up -again- and says “there’s tons of ways” without telling me what they are, I’ve looked and found nothing so either tell me the ways or don’t bother replying because no there aren’t, that’s why everyone on iOS has the same set of ringtones.) I mean hell, it’s painful just to move photos to a pc. Like ridiculously painful. Unless you pay for iCloud.

And the whole ecosystem is supposed to “just work”, but it doesn’t. Tons of finicky little problems, like I can’t get “find my” to play sound on my phone the next room over with all the settings enabled, and even the time of day focus on my watch is usually wrong, which is like a super basic function of this crap. But you can’t really troubleshoot because of the lockdown on everything.

Venting aside, it’s simply not worth it to switch from android. It’s a downgrade in every single way except hardware being built to last, and the software getting regular security updates. That’s it. That’s all it has going for it. I thought that might be enough, but it really isn’t.

I tried to switch to iOS when my pixel 3xl died. I gave up after 24hrs and bought a Pixel 6Pro.

Every time I tried to do something on the iPhone, or find a comparable app, it either couldn't be done, or needed an app with an ongoing paid subscription. It was infuriating. Paying one time for an app is one thing. I don't need to be spending 10s of dollars or a month in perpetuity just to use some apps on my phone when I can get the same functionality free, or for a smaller one time payment elsewhere.

My gf got an iPhone last year to try and experience it. I've thing she uses her phone a lot fit is movie consumption. Iphone doesn't let you transfer files from a pc to it by just plugging in the USB and using the file manager let me tell you. She is pissed.

My guess is that the increased price of phone have led more adults to find a mid-range android coupled with the increased support for OS updates from Google and others.

Honestly, being in the US surrounded by iPhones really pisses me off. To make matters worse, I am in the age range of the teens who love their iPhones. I really, really, really hate the iPhone and the iSheep that somehow use it. I feel like brain surgery is required to become an iSheep that can actually use an iPhone.

Honestly, I also hate Android too. I am going to quit using cell phones entirely because they piss me off.

Also, is there an exhaustive list of every single thing normies do on their phones? Normies as in US Gen Z normies. I already know advertisers figured this out.

They, like me, probably realize there's no cheap ass phones anymore and you can't get out of the Google ecosystem easily.