Class Divide between "Poor" Apple iPhone and "Rich" Huawei Users in China

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Staff member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
Apple products are considered luxury items and indicators of wealth in some parts of the world, but a report by research agency MobData suggests China is not one of those places: iPhone users in the East have been placed in a group dubbed the “invisible poor,” or “those who do not look as poor as their financial circumstances.” Chinese who make good money reportedly prefer Huawei and Xiaomi phones, followed by Oppo and Vivo handsets. “iPhone users earned the least monthly.”

Apple, the third-largest smartphone vendor after Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies, typically raises the price of its signature iPhones with each yearly launch. The expensive handsets have pushed many consumers, particularly those in emerging markets such as India, to cheaper alternatives, such as China’s OnePlus or Huawei’s Honor series.
 
The company I work at doesnt allow Huawei products in our buildings and doesnt support them if used on our network. I think the primary issue was that they got caught shipping gear to the US that still have leftover backdoors for the chinese surveillence folks. Other issues were political stuff. That said Huawei has some really well reviewed products.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GT98
like this
This sounds like a Chinese government scheme to get their citizens to use Chinese products. I don't know if Apple makes considerations in iOS for the Chinese market, but buying a Huawei device probably guarantees the Chinese government the ability to monitor the user.
 
Wow just wow, some are arguing over this like it really matters ? Whatever side you think is right on this matter, is wrong. People shouldn't base their purchase over this type of stupid matter.
You like the phone / Os, buy it. Simple as that. Yeah I bash on iPhone sometimes but not for the wealth reason, this is pure madness (I just hate the OS and the company).

By the way, you can make the numbers say whatever you want... pick a country where XYZ wins and you have your case... doesn't matter.
 
It's almost as if a key factor for success in China is being a staunch nationalist who loyally buys Chinese-made products. I'm thinking that they're not using Huawei because they're successful; but, instead, they're successful because they're using Huawei phones.
 
What you’ve seen isn’t statistics and doesn’t add to the conversation.

Correct - too much "information" waters down the significant information.

Again, so is yours but that doesn't stop you from being annoying.

Yours? Your what? Are you referring to his observations that he did NOT give? More importantly, how the hell did this get so many thumbs up?! It was a response akin to "I know you are but what am I".
 
Interesting.
I am wondering within the collective of fruit phone users, how many of them have a phone with a busted up screen, and which demographics of them.
I am wondering this cuz 8 out of 10 fruit phones i see in the hands of people have busted screens, i don't really see that same level with other brands, though in all fairness there are a lot of fruit company fanboys here in my little country.

No one in public see my phone ( with intact screen ) cuz i don't do phone use in public, other then when i use my phone for the waze like APP when i drive, in which case my phone are easy to see as it is mounted off driver side door fixed glass.
 
This seems like my high school back in the 90s where the kids from poor families bought Starter jackets. The rich kids avoided starter jackets for this very reason.

I'm starting to feel the same thing is going on with Canada Goose jackets. 5-6 years back they were an indicator of the upwardly mobile. Now they're generally the lower classes you see wearing them (at least in NYC and London from what I've seen).
 
A Chinese agency promoting Chinese product, and reported from a Chinese site....

So trust worthy..... :cool:



PS: How did it end up as a news here.....?
 
That's how it is in the United States as well, the only difference is that wealthy people don't buy iPhones but they buy Samsung phones.

This says otherwise: https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...hone-and-ipad-ownership-is-a-wealth-indicator

"Across all years in our data, no individual brand is as predictive of being high-income as owning an Apple iPhone in 2016," claim the researchers.

Of course if you're just claiming wealth and not income, I'd like to see the stats on that as well but most survey's ask for income level not net worth.
 
I see people around me who has little to no money and many of them buy top iPhones with loan money. And then I see people with money who buys other cheaper brands and phones because they do not need to prove anything to anyone.
 
I fully endorse all Huawei products for use by all worldly citizens.

/Posted by the users Huawei phone.
 
IMO, as biased it may look coming from a chinese company surveying ownership data from chinese companies, it show a shift from Apple being the "undeniable" top-tier in terms of luxury smartphones, to something that is being contested right now.

People may argue endlessly about which brand is better, which OS/hardware is better and so on, but most people never argued before as much as now about how much "status" iPhone ownership imparted on their users and other around them. Yes, that's subject to a lot of arguments as well, but the fact is that not much time ago, having as iPhone in less developed countries, no matter which model/vintage, set one apart from the rest, who chose devices selected much more by their cost/benefit ratio, or purely by cost reasons. There were the ones that could buy an iPhone and the rest.

Now, not only the iPhones do not have an incontestable lead in terms of features or hardware superiority, but there are a lot of brands and models that deliver devices very comparable or even superior to anything that Apple can offer.

I think that once the socially accepted aura of "superior" devices wanes from the Apple brand, there will be nothing more setting them apart from the rest, and, being significantly more expensive, users will eventually migrate to other brands. And Apple will have to adapt (much cheaper phones) or really start innovating again. But it may be too late, there is no more Steve Jobs around this time, and it is difficult to see a luxury brand falling from grace and then rising again.

(Sorry for the very possible grammar/vocabulary errors, I'm not english language native)
 
This really is no different than the U.S. Every trailer trash or project dweller has an iPhone and a big screen TV.
 
What you’ve seen isn’t statistics and doesn’t add to the conversation.

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. So unless the data being put out on any website is fully released for scrutiny...it has about as much credibility as my kid holding a candy bar wrapper saying he didn't heat it.
 
Wow just wow, some are arguing over this like it really matters ? Whatever side you think is right on this matter, is wrong. People shouldn't base their purchase over this type of stupid matter.
You like the phone / Os, buy it. Simple as that. Yeah I bash on iPhone sometimes but not for the wealth reason, this is pure madness (I just hate the OS and the company).

By the way, you can make the numbers say whatever you want... pick a country where XYZ wins and you have your case... doesn't matter.

Over the last 15+ years, choosing a mobile phone is like choosing clothes brand, an indicator of social status.
 
in my observations iphone users are the types of people who want to appear rich but in actuality are in debt

people with money tend to not cave to marketing hype and buy useless things, they see almost zero functional advantage to having apple products
 
This sounds like a Chinese government scheme to get their citizens to use Chinese products. I don't know if Apple makes considerations in iOS for the Chinese market, but buying a Huawei device probably guarantees the Chinese government the ability to monitor the user.

Pretty much that! As for the Huawei and Xiaomi being preferred by rich folks in China over Apple, that really cracked me up. What a load of bullshit! I'm not a brand fanboy and especially not an Apple fanboy but seriously who would got for a Huawei or Xiaomi phone over an established brand unless they are on a tight budget. Even then, they are still lower end models. This is probably also why rich kids in China were showing off their glowing iPhone X when it came out. Otherwise if government isn't forcing rich crowd onto their in-house spy enabled devices, I'd have hard time believing this.
 
I see people around me who has little to no money and many of them buy top iPhones with loan money. And then I see people with money who buys other cheaper brands and phones because they do not need to prove anything to anyone.


Pretty much man. That's why I'm happy driving a 17 year old car around.
 
There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. So unless the data being put out on any website is fully released for scrutiny...it has about as much credibility as my kid holding a candy bar wrapper saying he didn't heat it.
Forget credibility, why would your child (or anyone) lie about warming up food? Do you have rules about what can and cannot be heated?
 
Pretty much that! As for the Huawei and Xiaomi being preferred by rich folks in China over Apple, that really cracked me up. What a load of bullshit! I'm not a brand fanboy and especially not an Apple fanboy but seriously who would got for a Huawei or Xiaomi phone over an established brand unless they are on a tight budget. Even then, they are still lower end models. This is probably also why rich kids in China were showing off their glowing iPhone X when it came out. Otherwise if government isn't forcing rich crowd onto their in-house spy enabled devices, I'd have hard time believing this.
Both Huawei and Xiaomi are established brands. Just because you don't see them in USA doesn't mean they weren't around for years. Both companies make premium phones and they are all top quality.
 
people with money tend to not cave to marketing hype and buy useless things, they see almost zero functional advantage to having apple products

There's a huge functional advantage to having Apple products, they all work together seamlessly. There isn't one other company that controls the user experience across an ecosystem as large as Apple's. That's what Apple can market to the end user and that's why people who stick with their products continue to do so. Yes, there are plenty of other manufacturers with phones that can compete with the iPhone now, but the iPhone is still a top tier phone that works with the rest of products within Apple's portfolio.
 
Both Huawei and Xiaomi are established brands. Just because you don't see them in USA doesn't mean they weren't around for years. Both companies make premium phones and they are all top quality.

Oh I do see them in America alright but none appeared premium (by my definition of that). Some did have good hardware but not so much in line with flagship phones and tablets from Samsung for instance. They might be decent quality and not sure about high end, as far as high end brand also makes a huge difference to many users as it correlated with support. Software end is usually much better and gets updated, same goes for homebrew which is likely going to be more available on a well known brand to extend its life past official support. If you don't look at the price of either, would you honestly get any Huawei or Xiaomi over a flagship Apple or Samsung device? Either way, regarding in house companies that are Chinese, it would be foolish to not think they have backdoors and spyware baked into them. The more news we see about that stuff, they less inclined you should be own one. While I personally think it's dumb getting a high end phone as a status symbol as pretty much everyone has a smartphone these days but it isn't the point of our discussion here.
 
There's a huge functional advantage to having Apple products, they all work together seamlessly. There isn't one other company that controls the user experience across an ecosystem as large as Apple's. That's what Apple can market to the end user and that's why people who stick with their products continue to do so. Yes, there are plenty of other manufacturers with phones that can compete with the iPhone now, but the iPhone is still a top tier phone that works with the rest of products within Apple's portfolio.
That's what apple would like you to believe - you cannot leave their ecosystem or else you will suffer :D

again, it's a perception thing, a lot of people can mange the "1 extra second/braincell" it takes to do something outside the cushy apple universe
 
There's a huge functional advantage to having Apple products, they all work together seamlessly. There isn't one other company that controls the user experience across an ecosystem as large as Apple's. That's what Apple can market to the end user and that's why people who stick with their products continue to do so. Yes, there are plenty of other manufacturers with phones that can compete with the iPhone now, but the iPhone is still a top tier phone that works with the rest of products within Apple's portfolio.

That's very true.

I have no Apple devices, and they all work great together. :p


.
 
I see people around me who has little to no money and many of them buy top iPhones with loan money. And then I see people with money who buys other cheaper brands and phones because they do not need to prove anything to anyone.

unless your SO states they want an Iphone...lol happy wife, happy life...

I went the Samsung route and like it very much...
 
There's a huge functional advantage to having Apple products, they all work together seamlessly. There isn't one other company that controls the user experience across an ecosystem as large as Apple's. That's what Apple can market to the end user and that's why people who stick with their products continue to do so. Yes, there are plenty of other manufacturers with phones that can compete with the iPhone now, but the iPhone is still a top tier phone that works with the rest of products within Apple's portfolio.
I wish. My wife is on her second iphone. She recently upgraded from a macbook air to the new macbook pro and discovered that she was unable to connect the two. She tried a few other brands but couldn't find anything as nice looking and quiet as the 13" pro. Her next phone will be a Huawei.

I've been with Samsung for a few upgrades. If Huawei has a flagship model with more internal storage, microSD slot, wireless charging and reasonable water resistance they will get my money. I was not very happy the S7 64GB was unavailable in the UK.
 
Oh I do see them in America alright but none appeared premium (by my definition of that). Some did have good hardware but not so much in line with flagship phones and tablets from Samsung for instance. They might be decent quality and not sure about high end, as far as high end brand also makes a huge difference to many users as it correlated with support. Software end is usually much better and gets updated, same goes for homebrew which is likely going to be more available on a well known brand to extend its life past official support. If you don't look at the price of either, would you honestly get any Huawei or Xiaomi over a flagship Apple or Samsung device? Either way, regarding in house companies that are Chinese, it would be foolish to not think they have backdoors and spyware baked into them. The more news we see about that stuff, they less inclined you should be own one. While I personally think it's dumb getting a high end phone as a status symbol as pretty much everyone has a smartphone these days but it isn't the point of our discussion here.
Huawei have some very nice flagship phones. Look at the Huawei p20 line.
The camera is pretty amazing. My mother-in-law always bought cheaper gray market phones until one died when she was travelling in Europe. She picked up the p20 pro and her photos went from a blurry mess to 'professional' looking. I don't know what kind of software magic they use but it works for her.

Is China's spying on you... maybe. It's more likely that the US and China are spying on you simultaneously, probably with the same technique. Honestly, the US would love to prove Chinese products are unsafe to push domestic products.
 
I wish. My wife is on her second iphone. She recently upgraded from a macbook air to the new macbook pro and discovered that she was unable to connect the two. She tried a few other brands but couldn't find anything as nice looking and quiet as the 13" pro. Her next phone will be a Huawei.

I've been with Samsung for a few upgrades. If Huawei has a flagship model with more internal storage, microSD slot, wireless charging and reasonable water resistance they will get my money. I was not very happy the S7 64GB was unavailable in the UK.

Can you clarify what exactly was happening when she was unable to connect the two?

As long as your signed in with the same Apple ID things like Air Drop (bluetooth must be enabled for the devices) and the personal hotspot from the phone just work. Use iCloud to sync the Photos apps and all your pics and videos show up on all your devices. Now that iCloud storage can be shared between Apple Family members, you only need one iCloud storage plan for everyone to use. Apple Music and iTunes keep all your music sync'd between devices. Login with your TV provider in iOS and have access to all your individual TV channels across all your devices, great for watching things like HGTV on the Apple TV or iPad. Since I've switched my family members to all Apple devices, my personal IT admin time has been reduced to next to nothing. I just assist setting up a new device and everything is golden after that.
 
Can you clarify what exactly was happening when she was unable to connect the two?

As long as your signed in with the same Apple ID things like Air Drop (bluetooth must be enabled for the devices) and the personal hotspot from the phone just work. Use iCloud to sync the Photos apps and all your pics and videos show up on all your devices. Now that iCloud storage can be shared between Apple Family members, you only need one iCloud storage plan for everyone to use. Apple Music and iTunes keep all your music sync'd between devices. Login with your TV provider in iOS and have access to all your individual TV channels across all your devices, great for watching things like HGTV on the Apple TV or iPad. Since I've switched my family members to all Apple devices, my personal IT admin time has been reduced to next to nothing. I just assist setting up a new device and everything is golden after that.
The iphone uses a lightning cable and the macbook pro uses usb c.
I cloud is convenient but they don't give enough storage to expect people to go all cloud.
She likes to plug her phone into her laptop to charge it while she is working, so I had to find some lightning to USB C cables.
 
Interesting.
I am wondering within the collective of fruit phone users, how many of them have a phone with a busted up screen, and which demographics of them.
I am wondering this cuz 8 out of 10 fruit phones i see in the hands of people have busted screens, i don't really see that same level with other brands, though in all fairness there are a lot of fruit company fanboys here in my little country.

No one in public see my phone ( with intact screen ) cuz i don't do phone use in public, other then when i use my phone for the waze like APP when i drive, in which case my phone are easy to see as it is mounted off driver side door fixed glass.

Never had a broken screen ever. I've owned 3 iphones, 2 samsungs, 1 htc. Though my current iphone has a broken glass screen protector. As far as android vs ios for me i tend to go every other one. What I despise about one becomes what I lilke about the other until a couple years of use then I go back and forth.
 
Back
Top