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i worked a little in this space in the past. what we learned was that most people don't switch, but if they do, it's overwhelmingly in the android->ios directio

by 121789 3y ago

i worked a little in this space in the past. what we learned was that most people don't switch, but if they do, it's overwhelmingly in the android->ios direction and not the other way around (this is in the US). you may see some anecdotal evidence otherwise but on aggregate that was true

ajsnigrutin 3y ago
I know a couple of people who did that, but they switched from a $200 android to a ~$1000 iphone, and were amused at how much better it is. Users who had flaghship androids rarely switched, because their phones were good too.
JKCalhoun 3y ago
Anecdotal support for you claim: gave my dad and his wife two of my older iPhones to replace their Android phones. They'll never look back now. He told me he assumed the fawning over iPhones was "hype", now says he believes it is not.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
  You don't, however, mention which Android phones they switched from. Android obviously has a huge variety of different phone manufacturers, and many of them really suck, and many more are just mediocre. I think it would be harder to argue that iPhones are now (or in the past 5 years or so) significantly better than a Samsung or Pixel flagship. I personally own a Pixel and my spouse owns an iPhone, and besides the familiarity there are many features I love more about my phone (particularly the call screening and other call automation features). The biggest downside, which may unfortunately actually cause me to have to switch to an iPhone at some point, is Apple's monopolistic behavior with iMessage: I'm often the "odd man out" in group chats and the presence of my Android breaks the experience for me and all the other iPhone users in the group (video quality is in the toilet, messages can randomly get dropped, emoji reactions suck, etc.)
  - skrowl 3y ago
    [dead]
  - wolpoli 3y ago
    > You don't, however, mention which Android phones they switched from. This is very important since any iPhones have a top-of-the-line CPU for that era. On the other hand, the Samsung's mid-end series (A5x) have very weak CPU and they lag.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Re iMessage. I’m on quite a few ongoing group chats with a mix of iPhone and Android. No one has any real issues but it’s admittedly just text and photos.
dotnet00 3y ago
Yes, I've seen something similar, it's easy to switch from Android and get into Apple's ecosystem, but once in it's difficult to get out. My brother-in-law would love to switch out, but he feels stuck in Apple's ecosystem because switching now would mean either causing a lot of friction for his family or he'd have to change many devices at once.
amf12 3y ago
Anecdotally, some part of it is also the hype which makes people who use a mediocre Android switch to the iPhone. Once in the ecosystem its significantly harder to switch back. All of my friends who use a high-end Android haven't switched and don't want to.

by 121789 3y ago

ajsnigrutin 3y ago

I know a couple of people who did that, but they switched from a $200 android to a ~$1000 iphone, and were amused at how much better it is. Users who had flaghship androids rarely switched, because their phones were good too.

JKCalhoun 3y ago

Anecdotal support for you claim: gave my dad and his wife two of my older iPhones to replace their Android phones. They'll never look back now. He told me he assumed the fawning over iPhones was "hype", now says he believes it is not.

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
You don't, however, mention which Android phones they switched from. Android obviously has a huge variety of different phone manufacturers, and many of them really suck, and many more are just mediocre. I think it would be harder to argue that iPhones are now (or in the past 5 years or so) significantly better than a Samsung or Pixel flagship. I personally own a Pixel and my spouse owns an iPhone, and besides the familiarity there are many features I love more about my phone (particularly the call screening and other call automation features). The biggest downside, which may unfortunately actually cause me to have to switch to an iPhone at some point, is Apple's monopolistic behavior with iMessage: I'm often the "odd man out" in group chats and the presence of my Android breaks the experience for me and all the other iPhone users in the group (video quality is in the toilet, messages can randomly get dropped, emoji reactions suck, etc.)
- skrowl 3y ago
  [dead]
- wolpoli 3y ago
  > You don't, however, mention which Android phones they switched from. This is very important since any iPhones have a top-of-the-line CPU for that era. On the other hand, the Samsung's mid-end series (A5x) have very weak CPU and they lag.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Re iMessage. I’m on quite a few ongoing group chats with a mix of iPhone and Android. No one has any real issues but it’s admittedly just text and photos.

dotnet00 3y ago

Yes, I've seen something similar, it's easy to switch from Android and get into Apple's ecosystem, but once in it's difficult to get out. My brother-in-law would love to switch out, but he feels stuck in Apple's ecosystem because switching now would mean either causing a lot of friction for his family or he'd have to change many devices at once.

amf12 3y ago

Anecdotally, some part of it is also the hype which makes people who use a mediocre Android switch to the iPhone. Once in the ecosystem its significantly harder to switch back. All of my friends who use a high-end Android haven't switched and don't want to.