Apple is a status brand, customers will still defend their decisions even if they found out that Tim Cook is a real life Sith lord or something of that magnitude.
This is a misconception. For most Apple users it isn’t about status, it’s just the brand they use because they like the products and the way they work together. That doesn’t mean they don’t wish they were better in many ways (including this one).
It can be both. Like the whole green bubble vs blue bubble thing in iMessage. More people than you might think look at Apple as the status brand but that doesn't mean they don't also enjoy how well everything works together.
An iPhone isn't a status symbol anymore, if it ever was. I see 12 year olds with them because they still work long after the phone's previous owner grabbed the shiny new one.
Maybe having the newest model the week it comes out confers some status amongst those who can tell the difference. Everyone else just slaps a case on it and no one knows what generation you have.
I hear that argument often (although less than in the past) and always shake my head. In phones, Apple, Samsung, Google are analogous to Coke and Pepsi. Premium product, but achievable luxury. Apple is not Chanel.
Price sensitive folks go to MVNOs with off brand or lower spec devices - the equivalent to Dr Thunder at WalMart.
Apple is dominant in the US because they got their ass kicked in the services space by Google and learned their lesson. iCloud is an incredible platform today.
There’s really two androids. “Fancy Android” with Samsung Galaxy and Nexus - nice phones whose users seek them out. “Dumb Android” with customers steered by price or phone guys getting spiffed. The users don’t know or care about the device and have low value. The reality is, as with soda, the cheap product is marginally cheaper, but less pleasant and usually a poor value.
No brand lasts forever. Even on HN, a couple years ago every comment even vaguely anti-Apple tax would be immediately downvoted. When the Epic lawsuit was first filed Tim Sweeney was public enemy #1 over here. Now people are warming up to the idea that Apple might be harming consumers and developers with their app store rules.
