But where does Apple figure into that argument? I would say that their premium pricing was and still is worth the difference.
Apple are in the business of providing services that happen to use Apple hardware. They also generate some of the world's best marketing and industrial design, and understand that a brand is not a technical spec.
Samsung and Team Android have never understood this in the same way.
So you have to compare like for like. A GoPro is a closed unit. It has no ecosystem to speak of.
An iPhone is a gateway to the Apple ecosystem. It's really a service and marketing experience, some parts of which you can hold in your hand.
Now, you can debate if the Apple experience is as good as it claims to be. (I don't believe it is.)
But still - IMO that's why Apple has a planet-sized market cap, and Team Android are perpetually playing catch up.
When you buy an Apple, you're in for a treat. Everything from unpacking to when you eventually need service is awesome. For instance, just today they spent 5 minutes cleaning lint out of my iPhone's charging socket. I was extremely delighted because I had assumed the phone has fallen down so much the socket got detached from the motherboard and wasn't charging well.
Compare that to when I bought a Samsung Galaxy thing for my mum. It was just 100 euro cheaper than an equivalent iPad, but as soon as you opened it, you felt like you overpaid. Nothing specific you could mention, but it just felt like somebody hired the cheapest possible intern to decide how packaging should work.
When I pay 600 euro for a piece of tech, I don't want to feel like I've been duped and would be better off buying a suspicious tablet from a street vendor.
And when that thing needed repairs ... well, you took it in, and they were like "Meh, this is user error. Go figure it out"
sigh
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I'm almost to the point where I'm considering going back to iPhone. I've almost got the Android bug out of my system. For awhile I thought I might start developing personal apps, and I think I'd rather target Android than iPhone, but I think I'm over that too.
(My observation is in Germany)
What's the point of buying an Android phone (from the average Joe perspective) if the OS is preloaded with bloat and the experience is a sluggish phone?
A power user can root, install a custom ROM, etc. But can your average Joe? Or wait... what if not even a power user can install a custom ROM because the poor wording behind a feature of your phone makes it look like your warranty is void? (fig [1]. Knox Warranty Void)
GoPro vs a competitor is a 3-5x premium for something that is nearly completely interchangeable.
Many mid/lower end phones feel completely unusable without a custom ROM.
Then when you get into cloud services (Gmail, Maps, Google Now, etc.) Android has a clear advantage. So depending on what parts of the smartphone experience a user prioritizes, a logical argument can be made for either platform.