The Apple Bias Is Real

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I'm just going to post a link to this article and let you guys have your say on the subject.

Readers are right to claim that the iPhone is treated differently from other smartphones, and reviewers are correct in doing so. Apple makes more in quarterly profit than many of its mobile competitors are worth, and the success and failure of its smartphone plays a large role in shaping the fate of multiple related industries. The iPhone is reviewed like a transcendental entity that's more than just the sum of its metal, plastic, and silicon parts, because that's what it is.
 
Based on the quote alone......

Yea, there is an apple bias... that's easy enough to tell when you see claims of the thinnest laptop despite being a lie be awarded with cheers and still got deniers.

That said, all electronics aren't just metal, plastic, and silicon parts. There's also the software and the way it's put together.
 
pothb said:
Based on the quote alone......

Yea, there is an apple bias... that's easy enough to tell when you see claims of the thinnest laptop despite being a lie be awarded with cheers and still got deniers.

That said, all electronics aren't just metal, plastic, and silicon parts. There's also the software and the way it's put together.
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Agreed. It really boils down to a persons experience with a product and service. If this is a good experience then they will be back (most but not all times) to that service again. I have used android and iphone and while I prefer iphone for myself, I find that I like a lot of samsungs line as well and often makes me jelly. I have not had the best experience with android so it is hard to wander back (owned asus, samsung, HTC). Do i think the iphone came from heaven? f*** no, but it works for what I need and I feel I get my moneys worth out of it and a decent part back when I resell when I am done.
 
Transcendental?

Transcendental?

Hooo boy.
 
There are several facts in that article, but the thesis/conclusion BS. I don't read the Verge, but I'm guessing it's an Apple Fanboy site.

Sincerely,
An iPhone 6 user.
 
I got the general impression that iPhones didn't have nearly the marketshare they used to. I used to see iPhones everywhere, now it's just as many Android as iPhone.
 
I find most iPhone users are generally happy with their devices, without them being biased towards the device "because it's and iPhone." At a bare minimum, the users get a consistent experience across the whole ecosystem (and previous iPhones) and I think that goes a long way towards their satisfaction. The consistency makes it easy to grasp and understand the limitations while learning the "correct" way to do the thugs they can so. With Android, the playing field is all over the place and even when someone buys a new handset, it will often lack features that their previous or other handsets on the market have which can lead to grumbling.
 
MavericK96 said:
I got the general impression that iPhones didn't have nearly the marketshare they used to. I used to see iPhones everywhere, now it's just as many Android as iPhone.
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Depends on where you live. Worldwide, the iPhone has been hovering around 15% market share since 2009; currently at ~18%. In the US, it's been consistently climbing since its initial release (variation due to release cadence notwithstanding), and currently sits around 45% market share. And then, there's going to be substantial local variation; I have no data for it, but I'd assume a higher market penetration in urban centers.
 
techrat said:
Transcendental?

Transcendental?

Hooo boy.
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Transcendental? When describing a phone? Hooo boy is right.
Does it grant me a greater understanding of the universe or something?


Prolly not, just some nut using a word they may not completely understand to describe a hunk of electronics.
 
Quick question, when articles say iPhone profits dominate other smartphones, do they mean the profit from the physical smartphone exclusively, or do they mean profits as a result of the user buying and using the said smartphone?
 
chenw said:
do they mean the profit from the physical smartphone exclusively, or do they mean profits as a result of the user buying and using the said smartphone?
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Content and device demand are tightly intertwined. Some of the media services are not very profitable, but are essential for the devices successes.

Carrier phone subsidies to end users don't come out of Apple's end, and Apple's media and app services are in a symbiotic relationship to drive device sales. The profits are mostly device driven directly, but arguably the media and app ecosystem is largely responsible for that.
 
chenw said:
Quick question, when articles say iPhone profits dominate other smartphones, do they mean the profit from the physical smartphone exclusively, or do they mean profits as a result of the user buying and using the said smartphone?
Click to expand...

Mostly from device sales. Not sure what app store profit is, but Apple's revenue share of app store sales is about 10% of device sale profits. Not sure about what the accessory sales cut is.
 
I still have trouble paying top dollar for antiquated technology (mainly their computers). I suppose their phones are OK, I just wish the company was so intrusive and let their customers modify their technology to their own personal preferences. That's really the only thing holding me back from owning any kind of Apple product.
 
XenIneX said:
Mostly from device sales. Not sure what app store profit is, but Apple's revenue share of app store sales is about 10% of device sale profits. Not sure about what the accessory sales cut is.
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That is a lot different I expected.

I was expecting somewhat similar profits from both App store and iPhone.

Thanks.
 
So it's absolutely fine for there to be a bias towards a company if that company makes a lot of money. Right. Noted.
 
iPhones work better and smoother than any other phone on the market, so it makes sense
 
Krenum said:
I still have trouble paying top dollar for antiquated technology (mainly their computers). I suppose their phones are OK, I just wish the company was so intrusive and let their customers modify their technology to their own personal preferences. That's really the only thing holding me back from owning any kind of Apple product.
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That's what kept me buying Androids until I recently realized that I never actually customized my phone much, and the only times I really did any major tinkering was to correct annoying behavior from the phone or its apps. I'm not saying iPhones never annoy or every iOS app is perfect, but if the 1 new phone per year that Apple releases is tested to an absurd degree to provide a good experience and the app developers can make sure that their software works well on iPhones to a degree that would be prohibitively difficult on the thousands of Android devices, I care a lot more about that than having the most technically advanced screen or the most GB's of RAM, or the theoretically ability to get into the nuts and bolts of the system even though I probably never will.
 
Cobalt35 said:
So it's absolutely fine for there to be a bias towards a company if that company makes a lot of money. Right. Noted.
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Further to this, I prefer my reviews unbiased, thanks, and I don't give a flying shit how big or famous or how much money a given company makes. Is a good product? Yes? Great! No? Fuck off then! The fact this bias exists for Apple and is even acknowledged in this article is one of the reasons I won't ever use one. Their inferior products get a free ride simply because of the name Apple. Yeah, fuck off.

The honest, unbiased, blatant truth is, after all, one of the reasons that there are no sites on the internet that I can think of off the top of my head that I've been reading or a member of for as long as I've been here.
 
As a device to be treated as a phone, it's no more interesting then the rest.

As a device to be intertwined with other products it's fantastic. The level of integration is what made me justify spending the money on Apple products.
 
Cobalt35 said:
So it's absolutely fine for there to be a bias towards a company if that company makes a lot of money. Right. Noted.
Click to expand...

Don't forget biased is ok if you use your marketshare/popularity to get what you want.

Personally I think Apple is an amazing case study, they do hold their value and they CAN sell old tech for huge profits when others can't. Part of that is sheer popularity and branding but another part is the ease of use and consistency of experience.

I agree what others have said, you don't really need to customize your phone that much and most people are comfortable with what they know. Google's phone vendors are basically messing it up for themselves with all the different overlays and tweaks, changing phones can be tech shock. I went from a HTC to a Samsung and it was more than I expected, it usually was the simple things that drove me nutz and had me scratching my head.
 
I may switch to an iPhone 6 for work. I'm a bit tired of Samsung. Those are my two options, S6 or iPhone 6.
 
The content on The Verge is a useless but the site is good for stress testing and crashing iOS Safari on my iPad to see if an iOS upgrade is good or not.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I may switch to an iPhone 6 for work. I'm a bit tired of Samsung. Those are my two options, S6 or iPhone 6.
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That's a pretty easy decision, I'd get the iPhone 6 over the S6.

A friend of mine got a deal on his S6 and now he's trying his hardest to sell it to get a 6S ... Which isn't going well for him right now. :D
 
westrock2000 said:
As a device to be treated as a phone, it's no more interesting then the rest.

As a device to be intertwined with other products it's fantastic. The level of integration is what made me justify spending the money on Apple products.
Click to expand...

My Samsung already does everything I need and more that I don't need. I don't want it intertwined with other products. That's one of the things I don't like about Windows 8/81./10 trying to force people to connect with a Microsoft account so it can sync stuff between the different devices.

Just give me a Phone, text, email, and the ability to occasionally play some games when I have time to waste, and make the battery last a decent amount of time.
 
I think iPhones as a whole are iffy, either you both like the phone and the ecosystem, or you despise it. As an android user for many years, last year I got my first iPhone to try, and.... Well, I still have it and don't feel compelled to jump back to android. Call it what you will, but from my personal experience and nothing else, things on the iPhone "just work" as opposed to the random little issues I had with android (nothing major and nothing that would turn me away from android mind you). For a PHONE, I much prefer the iPhone due to it's somewhat simplistic setup, take that how you will.

But, if I was buying right now it'd be a tough sell between the 6S and the OnePlus Two. The OnePlus Two is a damn fine phone and that OxygenOS is pretty nice in keeping things simple and near stock.
 
XenIneX said:
Depends on where you live. Worldwide, the iPhone has been hovering around 15% market share since 2009; currently at ~18%. In the US, it's been consistently climbing since its initial release (variation due to release cadence notwithstanding), and currently sits around 45% market share. And then, there's going to be substantial local variation; I have no data for it, but I'd assume a higher market penetration in urban centers.
Click to expand...

According to Forbes the iPhone has been steadily declining year over year since 2013 (42%, 2014 = 32.5%, May 2015 = 31%). iOS numbers also reflect this.
 
iPhones hold their value. I've always been able to sell my old iPhone for about 90% of the subsidized price of a new iPhone. Upgrading is not a big deal because it costs so little to do so. A two year old Android phone is pretty much worthless.
 
I've used Android phones since they were released and have always enjoyed them. At one point over the years, I had to use an iPhone for work. Had an older one for a few months and then got upgraded to the latest and greatest at the time. All I have to say about iPhone is MEH. When they were introduced they were the bomb, but they've been behind the curve for a while now. I'm not fond of Apple anyway and the iPhone did absolutely nothing to change my mind. I can live without the walled garden approach everyone is trying to move to, due to Apple's success. That's one reason I like Android and also the reason I'm moving to Linux rather than the latest Microsoft OS.
 
8 years ago Apple entered the smartphone market and pretty much changed the game entirely. They never actually invent but they know how to innovate. They also know how to market and manipulate their products and their audience. Apple found a way to sell the same product to the same customer year over year with really no end in site. Even after phone subsidies went away Apple (and the big four carriers) found a way to keep selling $900 smartphones to the masses even after companies like Motorola and OnePlus showed that they could make a high quality phone for half that price. The truth is that the iPhone is not really the type of device that [H]er's love because it's built from the ground up for the "everyday Joe" not the hardcore tech crowd.
 
So is this article pointing out the bandwagon mentality of Apple fans?
Or is it actually saying Apple products are something special?
 
Just a small quote from the article:

It is the nexus where communication and commerce blend most easily, and it is the surest harbinger of the future that is to come.
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I just want to know what this guy is on. Powerful mind altering medication perhaps.
 
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