[pferde]

I'm sorry, but that overrated comic strip is not relevant at all.

It shows three situations, two of which depict normal progress ("there is this useful thing that has flaws because nobody has cared enough to fix those flaws, let's try"; Mr. Gotcha's burn is out of line), and one depicts standard corporate behavior ("a brand is willfully behaving in several ways that the society knows is abusive, and fans of that brand are willfully blind towards that)"; Mr. Gotcha's burn is very much deserved).

In short, one of these things is not like the others.

[mytherin]

I have to disagree with you there. How exactly is discussing a problem being "wilfully blind towards that"? You argue that they are supporting Apple despite this problem - but what is the alternative? Android? They have many other problems themselves, many of which overlap with those of Apple. Not use a phone? Not easily possible if you want to participate in society.

Even if you go the route of sacrificing your social life for these principles nothing will change - you are just a single lost sale amongst billions. Having people talk about the problems might actually spark change. What does pointing out this alleged "hypocrisy" achieve, besides making yourself feel smarter/superior?

[ZWoz]

That "many of which overlap with those of Apple" needs to be more specific. I can only think examples, where Apple and Android phone manufacturers are clearly different. Like forcing to use specific app store: Samsung has Google Play and own thing, modern Huawei (models without google) have support for several app stores. Moreover, there are several "feature phone" manufacturers, phones without iOS or Android. But if you are single lost sale amongst billions, maybe market is voting and doing it differently, than you. Apple products are often more appliances, than real general use computers. They never hide their philosphy "Apple knows best". Many people like that; buying Apple products exactly because limited choices.

[mytherin]

Privacy would be one area where Android/Google is generally much worse than Apple. If you care about privacy you would not buy an Android phone, but then if you care about open systems you shouldn't buy an iPhone. Now your hands are already tied.

The linked comic talks about underpaid factory workers in China - every company that sells smartphones suffers from this to some extend because tracking down supply chains many links in becomes very difficult. It is not so easy to determine with 100% certainty where the guy that sold you the refined metal for the CPU chip got his unrefined metal from. Apple has actually made big efforts in attempting to eradicate slave/child labor [1] - so if you care about human rights of labourers in third world countries you should probably buy an iPhone.

None of this is black and white, both Google and Apple have tons of problems. If you say "don't buy Apple if you don't support walled gardens", then someone else will say "don't buy Google if you don't support extensive privacy invasion". There is no correct choice - you can only fight the specific problems.

[1] https://www.voanews.com/archive/apple-wins-global-award-effo...