Who the fuck cares about "cultural footprint"? A phone is a tool, you get the best one for the job, not based on its cultural footprint or how attractive it makes you to superficial people.
> it’s unfathomable why a middle to upper class person would buy an expensive Android
I can answer that as a person in such a position. Android phones from reputable phone vendors are better than iPhones. Better for me, the one making the decision. The fact that in 2024 it's still impossible to not have all your apps plastered on the home screen, at best in folders, is a mind boggling missing feature in iOS. Every time I see someone with an iPhone try to open an app, it takes them a scroll or two to find the correct screen, and then hesitation with the finger moving to find the correct app placement. How I open apps? I have the main ones on my home screen, and for everything else I double tap the home button, and type (the start of) the name. I've been doing this since I first got an Android with Nova, I sure as hell am not going to retrain a decade of muscle memory to rely on apps not changing their icon or having to remember its exact location on the home screen.
Edit to address all the comments regarding this particular feature: Cool that there's some flexibility, but it's still nothing compared to being able to install whatever launcher you want like you can on Android devices.
Oh, and there's actually choice in terms of sizes and features, and associated price. You don't care about waterproof? You want to keep a fingerprint sensor instead of a camera unlock? You want a foldable phone? There are options. And I can choose if I want to use undiscoverable gestures, or keep virtual buttons. And on and on and on.
I have a work issued MacBook Pro and iPad, and both have cemented my desire never to own Apple hardware for myself. UX is for kids, hiding everything from you even if it doesn't make sense - on the iPad I was downloading an app with in-app purchases, and it was just stuck loading, with zero feedback on what's happening. After some Googling it turns out you need to set up a payment method first, before downloading, even if the app can be used for free. Awesome UX there, I'm glad it costs thrice the competition!