this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Nearly 9 in 10 US teenagers use an iPhone, spelling disaster for Google's mobile future

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (19 children)

Why are iPhones so popular in the US compared to Europe? Is it a peer pressure kind of thing? Or simply status? The difference seems to be pretty substantial and I don't think it can be explained by user experience alone.

iPhones have a 58% (US) vs 26% (EU) market share.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (25 children)

I think it has to do with the messagin app. For some reason in the us it's still common to use plain sms messages, which on an iPhone get translated to the blue bubble, but when sent to an android become the infamous green bubble.

This is however not the case in the EU bc sms messages were still expensive enoughfuring that time that when whatsapp released, everyone did the switch so as to not to pay the sms fees, and now, even if sms are basically free, everyone uses whatsapp as the default messaging app.

And as we know on whatsapp there's no differentiation of anything regarding the device you are sending messages to, so no constant reminder of "this guy had an android".

Just my 2 cents on why this could be.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

which on an iPhone get translated to the blue bubble but when sent to an android become the infamous green bubble.

The interesting thing is that the green/blue bubble thing is only infamous in the US.

As you say, outside the US, people use messaging apps like whatsapp or wechat.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

off topic, by any chance are you using Jerboa? ses like your comments is missing some spaces and I suspect it might be a bug with the app

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

It is a bug with Jerboa, it don't play nice with autocomplete / autocorrect underlines.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Yes! Wow it has to do with the app? I was going crazy, yes when I delete a word it shifts back and joind with the last word, it drives me nuts, are they planning on fixing it? Or do you recommend me another app?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

While other commenters are correct about the marketing in some aspects. As a parent of teenagers I will say if they don't have an iPhone they will be mocked relentlessly. The whole bubble color thing is real. They think androids are for poor people even though androids have a much larger range of price. This isn't a "my kids" thing. This is a "everyone in school thinks" thing.

God help me when they get their next upgrade and suddenly my chargers start going missing because "someone stole" theirs...

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They think androids are for poor people

So it boils down to classism among youths and in schools?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No, no, blame the children.

We, the current adults, are not at fault for the situation. It's others. Older adults, or the young people. It's only us who is enlightened, everyone else is fucking stupid.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

this is the same excuse i hear for people circumcising their kids.

are us people so weak to peer pressure?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Apple is headquartered in America and used a lot of marketing with celebrities, musicians, trendsetters etc.

Samsung is really popular in Asia. There's something to be said for homefield advantage.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What's the carrier situation like in the EU? Do they market the iPhone aggressively in Europe? I'd suspect both of those may have some influence on the difference, but I'm as interested as you in what's affecting the differences in adoption between both regions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Heavy marketing in europe

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