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I’m astounded by the pervasiveness of this meme, given its origins are really from a Mac vs PC internet flame war era that I would like to think we’ve moved pas

I’m astounded by the pervasiveness of this meme, given its origins are really from a Mac vs PC internet flame war era that I would like to think we’ve moved past. I’m astounded by the fact that one can imply with a straight face no less that over half the market are status-driven dorks that have no legitimate reason to use an iPhone over an Android phone, the obviously superior for all people in all circumstances choice used by the enlightened few that aren’t concerned with such banal things as social status. Occam’s razor would imply that this view is perhaps wrong and that you’re just missing something. I use an iPhone for a lot of reasons. One of these is that I’m legally blind. For my purposes, accessibility features on iOS easily run rings around those on Android. Full stop. Arguing against that is ridiculous. Sectioning me out and saying “I wasn’t talking about you@ because disability is a sacred cow is ridiculous. Just please don’t make these conversations so charged with this tired old rhetoric that simultaneously chastises such a wide group for imagined status-seeking in a way that simultaneously ties your own (non-iPhone) choice in to an imagined desirable personality trait.

mrdatawolf 3y ago
[flagged]
mlinhares 3y ago
People just like to think they're special "thinking out of the box" rebels because they use android when the equivalent android phone costs the same as an iphone. There's very little price difference between the models for the main brands (you can off course find cheaper alternatives with their own issues) but if you get an iphone and a samsung side by side odds are they're at the same price range. And as a professional developer that uses a mac (that is by far the best bang for the buck if you're not into gaming) it just makes sense to pick an iphone instead of an android due to the ecosystem value. I doubt many people in developed countries care that much about the fact that you use an apple device or not, that's the kind of shit you'd expect from developing nations like Brazil (where I'm from), where they do remain a status symbol mostly because the population in general is still pretty poor.
- behringer 3y ago
  There's nothing bang for your buck about apple laptops. I can get a pc laptop for half the price and arguably better quality. It is true about phones though, especially when you consider how badly all the big brands except apple and Google add unremovable money making spam apps to their phones.
  - adave 3y ago
    You are out of touch, M1/M2 runs circles around any other silicon and the pro line has great design and usage for convenience built in. The solid resale price is the proof as no windows device is worth anything used.
  - wredue 3y ago
    Surface laptops are priced pretty well on par with apple for a worse screen, quality, and battery life. Literally no other laptop provides a competitive battery life, screen or build even compared to the surface. I literally just bought a new laptop 3 months ago, and almost zero windows laptops were reasonably competitive with the MacBook for a dev. Could just be because I have a powerful gaming PC, but I definitely found that windows laptops did not meet up to a decent standard.
    - goosedragons 3y ago
      There's loads of nice "build" (just admit you want metal please) Windows laptops with nice screens. Asus ZenBook line for example. Can even get OLED.
      - Spooky23 3y ago
        Not at the same price-point at quantity 1. If you as a consumer buy a nice HP Spectre, it will be more than an equivalent MacBook barring a sale or clearance. I buy 10,000 at a time, and get about 30% off.
        goosedragons 3y ago
oska 3y ago
This comment came over as quite aggressive to me, and, browsing your new account history, I found a similar tone in other comments. As you are new here, I would urge you to read the HN guidelines : https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- wredue 3y ago
  Maybe the dude they responded to should avoid aggressive, sweeping generalizations about people who like a different phone than them? I buy iPhone for a lot of reasons, 0 of which are “status”. I had no idea there was even any status. The flagship devices are all within a couple hundred bucks of each other.
- randycupertino 3y ago
  Geeze I rarely bother to go read people's post histories here unless they strike me as uniquely insightful but yours inspired me to go read his comments and dude looks like a troll account who just came on here to cause flamewars and troll. All of his comments are argumentative.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- paulmd 3y ago
  No, the comment you’re replying to is actually a bit rightfully offended by the casually offensive remarks being dropped by the grandparent. The problem is fundamentally that Android users drop this microaggression all the time about how apple users are brainless sheep, who don’t have any sense and just let status drive all their purchases, and don’t even see it as offensive. amd fanboys do the same thing with nvidia users, insisting that “mindshare” is somehow the sole reason that AMD lost ground over the years and that nvidia customers are all dumb brainless sheep too. It’s actually quite offensive and extremely pervasive, and if you dare call it out you get people like you tut-tutting about how offensive it is to be pointing out your offensiveness. The problem isn’t the indignant reply, that’s just human nature, the problem is the person who dropped yet another “all apple users are status-chasing sheep” thought-terminating cliche. That’s offensive and pervasive and really should stop especially here of all places. It needs to be said and you are in the wrong for shouting down the people trying to say it. Again, I know that it’s so absolutely normalized and pervasive that android/AMD people probably don’t see “[other brand] users are brainless sheep” as being offensive, but it is. Like that’s not even a dog whistle, you’re just saying it right out loud. You’re telling a forum full of the general public that a good number of them are brainless, and you’ve been doing it for so many years that you don’t even see why that’s wrong. MacBooks, iPhones, and nvidia cards are all quite good products and have many many things going for them, there is absolutely no call to be insulting by suggesting that people haven’t done any research because they chose a different product for their needs. Like how poorly socialized are people that they think calling other people “brainless” to their faces isn’t offensive, or to tut-tut at other people for being upset about such conduct? Especially when here of all places people have most definitely considered the technical merit of the alternatives.
5e92cb50239222b 3y ago
It's not a meme in poorer countries. At least not in those that I am familiar with. Quite a few iPhone users I know use it as a status symbol, many have bought it in credit and paid out over the next several years with a significant chunk of their modest incomes (because they couldn't have acquired one any other way). Just in time to get the next model. Eh, whatever, at least it's more useful than expensive clothing.
dolni 3y ago
My teenage kid views Apple products as a status symbol. Still working on how to get her to stop obsessing over stupid crap.
esrauch 3y ago
Only half of all people being status-driven in their average purchases of visible accessories seems like a very low Bayesian prior to me in general. I think actually the meme is wrong because most people spending money on an Android phone in the US also basing it on a different form of status, kinda like "I don't own a TV" status. Most of the rest are probably making their choice based on pure cost basis (which can go either way based on resell / used market being better on iPhone). I would believe that only a small fraction of people are making their phone purchase choice on an axis other than status or price (like you).

mrdatawolf 3y ago

[flagged]

mlinhares 3y ago

People just like to think they're special "thinking out of the box" rebels because they use android when the equivalent android phone costs the same as an iphone. There's very little price difference between the models for the main brands (you can off course find cheaper alternatives with their own issues) but if you get an iphone and a samsung side by side odds are they're at the same price range. And as a professional developer that uses a mac (that is by far the best bang for the buck if you're not into gaming) it just makes sense to pick an iphone instead of an android due to the ecosystem value. I doubt many people in developed countries care that much about the fact that you use an apple device or not, that's the kind of shit you'd expect from developing nations like Brazil (where I'm from), where they do remain a status symbol mostly because the population in general is still pretty poor.

behringer 3y ago
There's nothing bang for your buck about apple laptops. I can get a pc laptop for half the price and arguably better quality. It is true about phones though, especially when you consider how badly all the big brands except apple and Google add unremovable money making spam apps to their phones.
- adave 3y ago
  You are out of touch, M1/M2 runs circles around any other silicon and the pro line has great design and usage for convenience built in. The solid resale price is the proof as no windows device is worth anything used.
- wredue 3y ago
  Surface laptops are priced pretty well on par with apple for a worse screen, quality, and battery life. Literally no other laptop provides a competitive battery life, screen or build even compared to the surface. I literally just bought a new laptop 3 months ago, and almost zero windows laptops were reasonably competitive with the MacBook for a dev. Could just be because I have a powerful gaming PC, but I definitely found that windows laptops did not meet up to a decent standard.
  - goosedragons 3y ago
    There's loads of nice "build" (just admit you want metal please) Windows laptops with nice screens. Asus ZenBook line for example. Can even get OLED.
    - Spooky23 3y ago
      Not at the same price-point at quantity 1. If you as a consumer buy a nice HP Spectre, it will be more than an equivalent MacBook barring a sale or clearance. I buy 10,000 at a time, and get about 30% off.
      - goosedragons 3y ago

oska 3y ago

This comment came over as quite aggressive to me, and, browsing your new account history, I found a similar tone in other comments. As you are new here, I would urge you to read the HN guidelines : https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

wredue 3y ago
Maybe the dude they responded to should avoid aggressive, sweeping generalizations about people who like a different phone than them? I buy iPhone for a lot of reasons, 0 of which are “status”. I had no idea there was even any status. The flagship devices are all within a couple hundred bucks of each other.
randycupertino 3y ago
Geeze I rarely bother to go read people's post histories here unless they strike me as uniquely insightful but yours inspired me to go read his comments and dude looks like a troll account who just came on here to cause flamewars and troll. All of his comments are argumentative.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
paulmd 3y ago
No, the comment you’re replying to is actually a bit rightfully offended by the casually offensive remarks being dropped by the grandparent. The problem is fundamentally that Android users drop this microaggression all the time about how apple users are brainless sheep, who don’t have any sense and just let status drive all their purchases, and don’t even see it as offensive. amd fanboys do the same thing with nvidia users, insisting that “mindshare” is somehow the sole reason that AMD lost ground over the years and that nvidia customers are all dumb brainless sheep too. It’s actually quite offensive and extremely pervasive, and if you dare call it out you get people like you tut-tutting about how offensive it is to be pointing out your offensiveness. The problem isn’t the indignant reply, that’s just human nature, the problem is the person who dropped yet another “all apple users are status-chasing sheep” thought-terminating cliche. That’s offensive and pervasive and really should stop especially here of all places. It needs to be said and you are in the wrong for shouting down the people trying to say it. Again, I know that it’s so absolutely normalized and pervasive that android/AMD people probably don’t see “[other brand] users are brainless sheep” as being offensive, but it is. Like that’s not even a dog whistle, you’re just saying it right out loud. You’re telling a forum full of the general public that a good number of them are brainless, and you’ve been doing it for so many years that you don’t even see why that’s wrong. MacBooks, iPhones, and nvidia cards are all quite good products and have many many things going for them, there is absolutely no call to be insulting by suggesting that people haven’t done any research because they chose a different product for their needs. Like how poorly socialized are people that they think calling other people “brainless” to their faces isn’t offensive, or to tut-tut at other people for being upset about such conduct? Especially when here of all places people have most definitely considered the technical merit of the alternatives.

5e92cb50239222b 3y ago

It's not a meme in poorer countries. At least not in those that I am familiar with. Quite a few iPhone users I know use it as a status symbol, many have bought it in credit and paid out over the next several years with a significant chunk of their modest incomes (because they couldn't have acquired one any other way). Just in time to get the next model. Eh, whatever, at least it's more useful than expensive clothing.

dolni 3y ago

My teenage kid views Apple products as a status symbol. Still working on how to get her to stop obsessing over stupid crap.

esrauch 3y ago

Only half of all people being status-driven in their average purchases of visible accessories seems like a very low Bayesian prior to me in general. I think actually the meme is wrong because most people spending money on an Android phone in the US also basing it on a different form of status, kinda like "I don't own a TV" status. Most of the rest are probably making their choice based on pure cost basis (which can go either way based on resell / used market being better on iPhone). I would believe that only a small fraction of people are making their phone purchase choice on an axis other than status or price (like you).