[jfdjkfdhjds]

OS and the bundled sleazy apps and injected ad networks are a big positive cost center for american telcos.

>At this point the most important quality of a phone to me is active security updates, so I'll never buy one where a carrier

you have no ideia how little of minority this type of thinking is! :(

[underlipton]

It would be nice if security updates were more friendly, and not bundled with feature updates (ever). Having to go through a whole song-and-dance, only for the OTA update to fail for one reason or another: not endearing. Worst of all: they stop coming just when you've become really familiar with your phone, after a few years.

[EricE]

Yup - it's why the iPhone wasn't on Verizon for years - Verizon insisted on being able to "customize" the iPhone and Apple told them to pound sand.

[umanwizard]

As a years-long happy Verizon and iPhone user I'm glad they did!

Now I wish they would do the same thing to the EU wanting to "customize" the iPhone... (e.g. forcing USB-C)

[odo1242]

Yeah, I agreed with the usb-C law until I realized how easily usb-C cables snap compared to the alternatives lol

[jimmaswell]

I've never seen a usb-c cable snap, and lightning doesn't look much sturdier to me.

[consteval]

Lightning is definitely sturdier, but I don't think that's enough to outweigh the benefits of USB-C. USB-C is much more universal.

[umanwizard]

Regardless of whether lightning is better than USB-C or vice versa, I am more worried about the general principle. The only organization that has a track record of building smartphones that I enjoy using is Apple. It's certainly not the EU. Thus I want Apple to be able to make design decisions as freely as possible because in practice that seems to result in a good product. I'd make an exception for things that are OBVIOUSLY blatantly uncompetitive (refusing to support modern interoperable replacements for SMS might be in this category, but I don't think what charing cable you use is).

[Spivak]

Well 52% of Americans use iOS and 31% are Samsung which now get 7 years of support so I think that's actually a pretty large majority now.

[kalleboo]

Samsung only offers the 7 years of support for their flagship series of phones. The majority of phones they sell are cheaper ones that do not get that support.

[thaumasiotes]

This argument would only make any sense if you believed that the reason Americans were buying from Apple and Samsung was for their software update policy, which I'm pretty sure you don't.

[consteval]

I think you could argue people are buying them for longevity, and these measures increase their perceived longevity.

I know a lot of iPhone users who will only buy iPhones because of their longevity. They'll keep them for many generations, and they simply don't have faith in Android phone brands to keep up that long. Phones are large purchases, sometimes financed, like a car. So when it comes to buying, some consumers treat them like cars. They weight reliability and longevity very high, and they'll often buy slightly used phones. A generation or two old iPhone is really still top of the line.

A lot of that is marketing perception but there's also some truth to it.