[nottorp]

Because the only competition is Android. Apple is the least bad choice if we're talking quality of the user experience. Don't bother comparing specs on paper, use both. And that's even before we take into account that Android is run by an advertising company.

Can't decide if it's sad or funny that Epic's greed clashed with Apple's greed and they ended up getting EU users a bit more freedom to decide what's run on the hardware they paid for...

[dns_snek]

> Can't decide if it's sad or funny that Epic's greed clashed with Apple's greed

I think it's amusing, it's extremely rare for incentives of a big corporation to align with ours to the point where they'd go to war against giants like Apple.

Epic is equally bad in other areas but I'm glad they fought for this.

[fsflover]

> Because the only competition is Android.

It's not. Sent from my Librem 5.

[npteljes]

This isn't a good faith argument.

When considering competition for X, the alternative should do at least most of the things that X does. It's not realistic to expect a drop-in alternative, but the user, I think, can't be expected to turn their life around, just to use the alternative, either. If this would be the case, then a SIM-enabled Windows notebook would also be competition for the iPhone.

If the offerings differ too much, then they are not competition. They are different products.

[cesarb]

> If this would be the case, then a SIM-enabled Windows notebook would also be competition for the iPhone.

Can that SIM-enabled Windows notebook do phone calls using the cell operator network (that is, not over the Internet)? If not (that is, if it uses the SIM only for data), then it's not an iPhone competitor. The "smartphone" category (which is where all iPhone competitors reside) requires being both "smart" (that is, with PDA functionality) and being a "phone"; the Librem 5 (and, for instance, the Nokia N900) fits comfortably in that category.

[pgalvin]

Nowadays, and especially for those under about 30, phone calls come near-last on the list of things smartphones are used for.

To change to the Librem 5, I would need to:

- change the way I communicate with all of my friends and family by using SMS over the _only_ method used in much of the world - WhatsApp.

- be excluded from context surrounding many social gatherings due to not being in group chats.

- change the way I travel with very, very different navigation apps that lack turn-by-turn directions.

- stop using social media when on the go - mobile websites often lack many features, if they even exist.

- accept significantly reduced quality photographs of memories, especially in low light.

- meticulously acquire local files for tens of thousands of songs I have organised in Spotify playlists for over a decade, and totally change the way I discover new music.

- lose Shazam and apps like it, so I’ll forever be wondering “what was that song I liked…?”

- entirely change from the mobile-only bank that I use (and, even then, suffer the atrocious UX of most online banking).

- change from the convenience of Apple/Google/etc. photos to setting up Syncthing, my own NAS, and making sure it keeps running and never goes wrong.

- become stranded when public transport stops running at night, as I can’t get an Uber, or try to get a normal taxi at 3am. I’m not even sure they exist where I am.

- carry a wallet, or at the very least my cards, with me for the first time in 9 years.

Unfortunately, the duopoly is well-entrenched, especially for those born after 1995 or so and outside the US (SMS is very, very rarely used in much of the rest of the world). You could tell people that there are plenty of workarounds - I listed many above - and some sacrifices to use a Linux phone, they should try it! But then they would ask “why?” and you’d be hard-pressed to give any reason they care about.

[bornfreddy]

Well said! However, people are different. None of the things you mention matter to me, so I could be using Librem 5 if it wasn't for:

- ability to run apps from a (well stocked) store

[fsflover]

> - ability to run apps from a (well stocked) store

You can run Android apps via Waydroid. F-Droid, for example, works fine for me.

[nottorp]

They also missed the "quality of user experience" argument.

[viherjuuri]

I looked into what this is, and I don’t think I could use my mobile banking apps, my payment cards or software required for work on this. Otherwise I like the idea and I hope it will mature and become a real option one day.

[fsflover]

For some banks, Waydroid allows to run the banking app. If your bank forces you into the duopoly without giving a choice, you should complain or switch.

[katzinsky]

I like Linux phones but it's hard to justify spending $700 on any portable computer, especially one with only 3gb of ram.

I think for most people there really isn't any competition, especially with the lock in from icloud. It was painful for me when I switched to a pinephone (I just use cheogram on a laptop with a 4g modem now, I don't think most people will do that) and I'm generally very careful about using online services like that. Most people just switching between Android and iOS will turn their whole lives upside down.