is that 5% really worth an extra $800+...
the only big difference is if you care about resale value. trying to sell a used android/windows vs a used apple product is definitely an eye-opening experience.
Let’s talk phones, and just ignore the brand to start. Higher end devices often have better cameras, better support, better build quality. I’m sure you’ll find some random phone that competes with a flagship, but that’s irrelevant to the vast majority of users.
Now start introducing brands to the mix. Each brand has value adds like platform specific apps and ecosystem integration. Samsung and Apple have a big ecosystem of products that they work with that other brands don’t. Even if the other brands work with them, many people prefer to stick with the single brand for support reasons. You’ll likely suggest alternative apps and products. Users don’t want that, they want a product that does what they need without being technically competent.
Your problem is you’re looking at spec sheets and seeing equivalence in the things that matter to you. The things that matter to most people aren’t on the spec sheet. A spec sheet does not convey experience.
By your same argument, why do people buy nicer cars? A fiat 500 is most of what I get with a ford f150 and a Lamborghini Aventador.
Why do they buy nicer clothes? Fast fashion from H&M is the same from a utility perspective as a nice tailored suit from Armani.
If your arguments start with random value segments and don’t take into account experience, nothing will ever make sense. The experience of a $200 Android phone is not the experience of a $1000 Android phone, let alone a $1000 iPhone. The experience of a $10k car is not the experience of a $80k or $400k car. The experience of a $20 shirt is not the same as the experience of a $180 shirt.
Do you value shutter lag? Support? Product ecosystem? Video quality? App ecosystem? Accessibility features? Build quality? Software updates?
The divide is as small or as big as each independent person makes it. But on average many people clearly see value in different product segments.
The trouble with discussing it on HN is that this is the exact wrong demographic for this. This is the site that discussed Dropbox by saying people could just use rsync. That routinely suggests technical workarounds to any project posted. many people will pay the extra money to not care.
True with the camera. But if you're like me, that's not actually a big deal. Better support? I wouldn't know, as I've never needed support so I can't compare. Better build quality? True -- but is that a huge deal? Even the cheapest phones I've used have lasted for most of a decade.
> Each brand has value adds like platform specific apps and ecosystem integration.
I always thought that stuff added by manufacturers takes value away from the phone. And worse, you often can't remove it.
Anyway, I think the point is that a $1000 phone is not 5 times better than a $200 phone. It may be worth the expense to people anyway, of course, but the price goes up far faster than the extra benefits do.
This is an egocentric view of products. Clearly other people do care because cameras are the focus of most reviews, and the thing that sees the most upgrade Gen on Gen.
That’s what matters. What matters to people on average, not one off HN posters.
That’s not to diminish your opinion. That’s what you value and it’s important as well. It’s just not relevant to demographic trends
I have for work a mid range android (Samsung a53). The camera is significantly worse than my iphone 12 pro max. So i have to get high end phones and then the extra money for a iphone is not much.
For me the long term updates and lack of maintenance are key factors - it’s been 15 years since I’ve had time to faff around with phones, I just need something that works and can easily transfer on to the next one.
I see people say an iPhone lasts many years but you need to get a new Android phone every 1-2 years. That hasn't been true for quite a while for middle- and high end phones. And I don't see myself paying more for an iPhone when I barely get any benefits.
Meanwhile, I switched to Apple and skip 2-4 generations at a time and hand down my phones to my kids, who still receive updates. It was only the end of last year that we phased the last iPhone 6 out of our family, a phone released September of 2015. A phone Apple replaced the battery in for $35 halfway through its lifetime.
I’ll never own an Android phone as long as the carriers have any control over OS updates or baked in applications.
Oh, and let’s not forget while phone backups automatically to the cloud. Every new phone I’ve purchased has continued on right where the last one left off. Settings and customizations I setup in 2015 are still working to this day on a phone that’s only a year old.
It’s more about how well the two phones do similar things. Yes a 200$ phone takes photos and videos, but the image quality is worse and the files ironically tend to be bigger.
Yes it will run all my apps, but they’ll be sluggish cause of bloat in the software stack.
Same idea, but repeat it for everything else.
Now, this may simply not matter to someone, and that’s great they get to save 800$. But to many others, myself included, it does matter.
I’ve had a Mac since 2014, after years of complaining about them. Then the M1 came out, and I became a zealot, because my base-spec Air trounces my fully-spec’d i9 MBP that my work gave me.
But the real trick that keeps people in is the ecosystem. I switched to an iPhone a couple of months ago. Other than some iOS complaints, the handoff and interplay between devices is incredible. Answer a phone call on the Mac? Sure. Copy a URL on the Mac, and then paste it on the iPhone? Yep, no problem. Apple solves small, annoying problems, and does so without friction. Things just work.
This. I’ve tried Android a couple of times over the years, and every time there’s just little quirks and problems that drive me back to iOS.
Same with Linux on a laptop. I actually prefer Linux as a dev environment, but I’ve never been able to get the same laptop experience as I can with a Mac. The quality of the touchpad, keyboard (the butterfly keys being the lone exception), display, weight, and form factor just can’t be touched.
Yes, yes it is. Some people value their time and energy really highly.