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Comment by ArtTimeInvestor | Hacker News Reader

A good security track record must be the most valuable company asset in history.

Apple makes $200B per year from selling the iPhone alone. Plus the services they sell on it, plus deals like the one with Google, plus app store ads, plus cross-selling of other hardware ...

I have one too.

Not because I like the hardware too much. Pixel phones are much nicer, they don't wobble when you put them on a table. Not because I like the software too much. Android is much more to my liking with more freedom to customize it.

But because I have the feeling Apple takes security more seriously.

I wish there was some kind of security arena like there is LLM arena for AI. That gives hard facts about the security track record of phone manufacturers.

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It's a bit ironic to think Apple takes security seriously when they infamously delivered ridiculous bugs like 2017 High Sierra root login, which they fixed and then accidentally unfixed again.

What we're seeing is marketing/branding and a genuine for-show effort, all the while they do not audit their code outside some for-show technologies (Siri AI in the cloud).

So the point I am making is that it's all observational bias. You want actual objective security, use GrapheneOS.

And I'm saying this as an iPhone user.

Funny since the GrapheneOS devs praise the iPhone for it's security.

I personally prefer seeing real advancement that integrate both hardware and software like their EMTE[1] which no other vendor has had the balls to implement.

And I say that as a GOS user! My next phone will definitely be an iPhone, mostly because I cannot deal with the terrible Tensor SOC. My G4 overheats for nothing! Shameful

[1] https://security.apple.com/blog/memory-integrity-enforcement...

The issue is that Android is open while Apple seldom talks about their security issues.

This might make Apple look like the more secure option but the reality may be different because Android is more scrutinised.

If you are sceptical consider these examples: (1) some versions of Apple silicon have unpatchable security defects, (2) Apple at one point decided to not contact up to 500M users affected by a supply chain attack in China due to "language difficulties".

> Apple seldom talks about their security issues

I didn't find about OEMpocalypse from Google talking about their security issues, I found from calif.io. Security researchers don't wait for companies to "talk about their security".

> but the reality may be different because Android is more scrutinised.

This is famously why Linux appears to be less secure than Windows, right? Because Microsoft doesn't talk about their security while Linux is more scrutinized?

https://mashable.com/article/high-sierra-password-fix-apple-...

> In the simplest of terms, with the bug, if you created a new APFS (Apple File System) encrypted volume on High Sierra, and set anything at all as the password hint, then your password was stored as the hint. In plain text.

I know Apple phones had bugs. Even worse bugs than the one you linked to.

But Google phones had those too.

That's why I said I "feel" like Apple takes security more seriously. And that I wish there were hard facts. Statistics of number of bugs by severity. Independently verified.

Your post is essentially admitting that you're ignoring the bugs from the company you love and taking seriously form the company you don't.

So the difference isn't about taking things "more seriously", but in the fact that you take marketing from Apple more seriously.

That's not the same.

(Note: There's plenty of proof that Apple does take security more seriously than Samsung, Xiaomi & Co. in the article, but your feelings aren't it.)

Good thing they never claimed their feelings were proof of anything.

This is where reading ability comes into play.

Doesn't make a difference if Apple takes security more seriously if they bend like a rubber pole when the government comes asking...

That depends on your threat model.

Realistically intelligence agencies aren’t too interested in my grandma, but malware/scams/bloatware absolutely are.

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