[theodric]

What on Earth would drive that perception? Do iOS users prefer dating other people who will spend lots of money on a status symbol? This sounds like nothing but a thinly-veiled attempt at discrimination based on an assumed level of wealth. (Which, if you've priced out Pixels lately, is not at all accurate.)

[4death4]

Do you really think iOS users view iPhones as a status symbol? That seems like a major incompatibility right there.

[theodric]

Yes, I do. And Android an "anti-status" symbol.

cf. https://archive.is/0Mpc8

Edit: and this comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38272193

[4death4]

Ok but the point still stands. My impression of iOS users is they simply feel they prefer the UX, whereas you feel, as an Android user, that you’re making an ideological choice. As someone who cares little for the ideology of consumer choices, I don’t think we’d get along, which reinforces the original point about personal compatibility.

[chimineycricket]

Please don't make things up. Parent never said a) they own an Android or b) they own one for ideological reasons.

>As someone who cares little for the ideology of consumer choices, I don’t think we’d get along

This means you actually _do_ care about the ideology of consumer choices, no?

[4death4]

Based on the original comment, the poster heavily implied they’re an Android user specifically for ideological reasons. And indeed, a recent comment confirms this, at least the using Android part: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37771766

Honestly, this was self-evident from the comment. I’m surprised you’re questioning this. Similarly, when I say I don’t care, I really mean I don’t care. I don’t want to spend time thinking about things I don’t care about. So I would be unlikely to enjoy time with someone who forced me to think about things I don’t care about. That doesn’t mean I do care about it.

It feels a little bit like you’re taking plainly self-evident facts and trying to find some deeper meaning or nuance where none exists. That feels like an error-prone way to view the world.

[theodric]

Not really for ideological reasons: I simply find iOS frustrating. I bought an iPod Touch V1 when it first came out and was impressed relative to PDAs of the era; 2G iPhones weren't even available in Europe at that time. I own an iPhone that I use secondarily, and I've tried to switch to an iPhone as my primary device on 3 occasions after being swayed by various people in my life banging on about how great they are ("...now, since they fixed [niggle you're complaining about!"). It invariably ends in, as I usually render it, me "wanting to spike it on the concrete within about an hour of picking it up." The inflexibility of the launcher environment, inability to sideload applications outside of my account's market region (supermarket apps, car parking apps, etc.), browser eccentricities, and so on. I consider these to be technical quarrels. My freetard tendencies haven't prevented me from using Macs heavily for the last two decades.

But on some level, I think I agree with you: the system is working, and just as someone might not want to date me because I use a low-status Android phone (regardless if it cost as much or more than an iPhone), or I prefer a different brand of shoes to the ugly white sneaker currently held in highest esteem, I would not want to date that person if they are so...shallow, I suppose, since I can't think of a less inflammatory term...as to select their mate based on trivialities.

Incidentally, my wife has been an iPhone user since she switched to a smartphone with the 3GS. She has used a spare Android device for a few months between iPhones after an untimely accident, but finds it frustrating because it's not like an iPhone. She also actively prefers Windows, having tried macOS. We met at age 20 in the dumbphone era, and have somehow been married 10 years, and together 19. We bought a farm a couple years ago, and I've recently retired from tech and taken up hobby farming. She loves the quiet of the Irish countryside, and so do I. The house and farm were bought with cash. We've never had a new car; in fact, we've never had a car newer than 9 years old or costing more than €7950. Had she selected against me as a partner all those years ago because I had a Siemens phone rather than a Nokia, our lives would both be very different, but thankfully we both value things that tip the balance materially, rather than peacockish status signifiers that may have nothing to back them up but a costly monthly installment plan with the mobile service provider.

Kids these days, and in all days preceding...

[FalconSensei]

I think many people do, but not everyone. Wife and I use iPhones because we prefer iOS and for us the experience is better

[lotsofpulp]

It has nothing to do with wealth, iPhones are cheap.

As another commenter states, it’s about taste or “weirdness”. Similar to making assumptions based on clothing or clothing or other chosen attributes.

[wkat4242]

Cheap in the US perhaps. Here in Spain even the SE is 579€ and you can get a great budget or midrange Android for much much less. Which will have lot of mod cons the SE doesn't have like a modern bezelless design, amoled and in-screen fingerprint. Usually even a 3,5mm Jack.

Most people carry Redmi phones and use wired headphones here. It's absolutely about wealth.

[mattl]

A message from an Android user is no different to a spam text message. I expect in Europe most people use WhatsApp anyway so it’s less of an issue.

But in the US, communication with Android users on iOS sucks. Garbage quality media, none of the usual features like reactions or groups or sharing things works well.

[olyjohn]

Good. I don't want any of that shit to come to me anyways. Please give me more reasons to not use an iPhone.

[theodric]

The cheapest iPhone is $429. An iPhone 15 not-Pro is at least $799, a Pro $999, up to $1599. Is that cheap?

[lvzw]

From the amount of utility you derive from a phone, and the life span of phones these days, $429 seems cheap to me. But it’s all relative I suppose.

[lotsofpulp]

Yes, meaning that if all you knew about someone is that they have an iOS device, you would not be able to tell what their wealth/income status is (other than maybe they are not in the bottom 10%).

[acdha]

The cheapest Pixel is $499, so it’s not like Apple users are paying more than the market will bear — and even if you get the Walmart discount phone you’re paying more than the savings in service pretty quickly, so this is a pretty democratic competition compared to all of the other ways people buy things they enjoy or signal affluence: people pay many tens of thousands more for premium SUVs, high end clothing costs considerably more than that iPhone, etc. Half the people here have the same phone as actual billionaires, and we don’t spend any time in their circles otherwise.

Your comment history suggests you have a personal identification with Android, which I think is making it hard to evaluate it rationally. I’d suggest considering whether that’s really a lot of money for something people use so much every single day, and whether your position might be one of the goals of the intense PR play Google has been making to get the EU regulators to make them less of an also-ran in the messaging space - they know it depends on convincing the regulators that Android users are being discriminated against, which is why you hear so many stories about that which turn out to be sourced back to Google and the phone companies.

[olyjohn]

No that's not cheap. If someone thinks that's cheap, they're living in a bubble.

[acdha]

Compare it to all of the other things people use as status symbols: it’s a tiny fraction of a car, less than a decent suit, and wouldn’t go that far at a nightclub or nice restaurant. Google has been intensely marketing this idea that green bubbles are discriminatory as part of their PR push but I’m skeptical that even if Google got everything they wanted from the EU, the shallow people wouldn’t instantly move on to some other signifier.

[650REDHAIR]

Ease of interaction.

Higher resolution photos, location sharing, in-line replies and emotes, etc etc

Group threads with a single Android user get annoying.

[theodric]

Group threads in one manufacturer-provided chat program get annoying. Venturing outside the defaults by using Signal or WhatsApp (or Threema or Messenger or...) would mitigate this. I suspect the root of the problem is folks accepting defaults unquestioningly, resulting in de facto manufacturer lock-in.

[acdha]

iPhones are popular. I grew up when almost nobody had cell phones or even pagers, and remember the exact same thing happening for having the wrong shoes, jacket, Trapper-Keeper, Walkman, bike, skateboard, etc. or, in high school or later, car. This is why there’s such a booming industry in counterfeit clothes or rapid knockoffs because certain people really prize being able to fit a trend.

If Google gets everything they ask for, the shallow people will instantly move on to something else because that’s how people like that work.

[wilg]

I think its similar to how people might prefer dating people who dress well, it's a reflection of their taste and what they value.

[mr_toad]

People judge you on your clothes, your shoes, your car, your hairstyle, so why not your phone?