If a person is on the market to purchase a product and has two options, one – a good product but pricey, two – a cheap one but made in china by a company that doesn’t have a good reputation for quality, which one the user would choose?
If the buyer is in a budget constraint and doesn’t care about the failure of the product, he may choose the cheap one; but a conscious buyer would buy the good product even though it’s expensive. Expensive does not mean good quality, but a good quality product always costs more.
The answer to the question of why does everyone buy an iPhone would vary depending on geographic region. Many from the Indian subcontinent would give a straightforward, condescending answer: people buy iPhones for social status, and those iPhone buyers don’t know about phones. However, this answer is absurdly ridiculous and preposterous for a North American user such as America or Canada. In reality, the honest answer is complex.
This article will explore a few primary reasons why almost everyone in a first-world country buys an iPhone.
Privacy and Security
For Europe and American consumers, privacy is crucial. Everyone does their banking and other security-intensive tasks on their phone. Moreover, people store their credit cards, social security, and password on their phones.
iPhones are so secure that even the FBI and police sometimes go to court to force Apple to unlock the iPhones of arrested convicts.
Furthermore, NATO countries and their government don’t trust Chinese products — which are notorious for spyware and adware. Therefore, in America and Europe, where the iPhone sells the majority of their phone, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and other Chinese phones almost have no presence. Huawei tried to go global with their phones and other networking equipment, but Western countries have banned Huawei due to their spying technology on their hardware.
Interestingly, when the Huawei heir was arrested in Canada, she was arrested with a Macbook and iPhone. Even the Huawei heir was not using her Huawei phones and laptops.
— Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou had a MacBook, iPhone and iPad when she was arrested by Verge.
Therefore, a user has to buy either an iPhone or a Samsung phone in these geographic regions. Even though iPhones and Samsung are very secure phones, people tend to buy iPhones in western markets due to various problems with Samsung phones, as discussed later in this article.
Apple’s Superior Software and Hardware:
Apple primarily is a software company, and second is a hardware design company. Apple’s A-series chips are the most efficient and powerful mobile processors. Furthermore, Apple’s M-series processor for Macs is the most powerful processor in the industry. Even the Intel and Qualcomm processors are not that powerful, even though Intel and Qualcomm’s primary business is to design and make processors.
Therefore, Apple writes not only excellent software but also designs impressive hardware.
On the contrary, Samsung is primarily a hardware company but writes software to operate their hardware.
On several occasions, Samsung tried to create their mobile OS but failed miserably once with BADA and another time with the Tizen. Therefore, Samsung’s software is not as efficient as Apple’s iOS.
Samsung also has its mobile processor called Exynos. However, this processor is notorious for power consumption and poor performance compared to the Apple-designed A-series processor. Similarly, other hardware manufacturers such as OnePlus, Xiaomi are not as good at their software as Apple.
When the hardware and software work seamlessly, it gives a pleasureful and straightforward user experience. It’s why most people buy an iPhone instead of an Android phone.
The phone experience is not about the latest or greatest hardware; rather, it’s about which phone gives an optimal good user experience.
Operating System:
The phone market is divided into two operating systems. Android and iOS. Except for iPhones, every other phone is an Android-based phone.
Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, and others take Google’s Android, modify it, and ship their phone with the OS. There’s almost no difference except for a few UI and feature differences on the software side. Thus, these companies try to differentiate themselves with their hardware. The camera, processor, battery, RAM, and the display is the primary differentiator between the phones.
Buying an Android phone is a confusing and time-intensive task for a new buyer. First, one has to choose a phone manufacturer from diverse companies such as Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Motorola, and other regional brands. Then each company sells multiple phones. Which one to choose? Some budget buyers would opt for a cheaper brand and take their time to find a more affordable phone, but most buyers with money would not venture into this arduous research path.
Most people want a phone only to take pictures, browse websites, play games, send and receive emails, and use social media apps. Not everyone is a power user who will modify the background, sideload apps, or obsess over widgets. For them, an iPhone is a straightforward choice. It’s a good, reputable, and reliable phone.
No Bloatware:
An iPhone comes with only a few essential apps. Even most of those applications can be uninstalled from the iPhone. On the contrary, every Android phone comes with countless bloatware, and most of the time, those apps can’t be uninstalled.
Chinese phones take it to another level. They not only have bloatware but are also infested with adware and spyware.
When Apple announced that it would no longer allow third-party apps to track their users a few years ago, Facebook went ballistic over this decision. Later, Facebook posted that they lost billions of dollars in revenue due to Apple’s decision.
On the contrary, almost every Samsung phone comes with Facebook pre-installed as a system app. Samsung ships its phone with more than 15 preloaded third-party apps. These apps can track a user 24/7 without a user’s permission. A Xiaomi phone takes this to another level. They track and sell user data to show ads on a Xiaomi phone.
Apps like Facebook are resource-intensive. Because of these resource-intensive apps running 24/7 in the background, it harms the battery, processor in the long run. On the contrary, an iPhone performs smoothly even after five years. Therefore, users who want a clean phone experience will buy an iPhone if they have their budget.
Software Updates:
No company except for Apple provides software updates even after 60 months. Every iPhone receives software updates regularly throughout its life.
However, most flagship Android phone manufacturers don’t provide updates after 24 months. And for budget Android phones, there’s no software update. For example, it’s well known that Samsung never provides a software update for their latest flagship Galaxy phone after 24 months.
Long term performance:
Apple has the most long-term user satisfaction rating compared to other brands. An android phone becomes laggy and slow after 36 to 40 months. After 60 months, Android phones become unusable. On the contrary, the iPhone degrades the least among various flagship phones.
Not Everyone Craves Customization:
One of the key selling points of the Android phone is that it is infinitely customizable. Even though it’s true, most phone users don’t care about it. A niche community will install a modified OS or sideload apps, but customization is not required for most people.
Every product on the market has benefits and drawbacks. An iPhone, too, has some disadvantages over an Android-powered phone. However, the benefits of an iPhone far exceed the benefits of an Android phone, even though iPhones are expensive.
