What’s Happening To Android?

How did you not mention the demise of Huawei? Millions of people switched from Huawei to Apple

My biggest reason for sticking to Android is that as a developer, developing on Android is a lot easier and I am able to install any useful apks not on the app store

As an Android user, it bothers me a lot to see how companies choose to go with 'the Apple way' instead of keep doing what had been working for them years prior. I get how they want to achieve the perceived higher status with the pricing of their flagship models or anything, but removing accessories (including charging brick) from the boxes is not the correct way. Also, as much as I enjoy the flexible and customisable nature of Android phones, I want them to put more effort into app supports. I don't even use Instagram that much, but I'd be lying if I say I don't envy how Instagram and many more apps look and feel better in iPhones.

My biggest gripe that I have been having with Android phones lately is that they have been basically copying Apple in all of the wrong ways. I've noticed this as early as the Galaxy S6. In that phone they took out the removable battery and the SD card slot. I remember being very upset about that, and that was all the way back in 2015. The next model, the S7, brought back the SD card slot, but it still didn't have the removable battery. Eventually they removed the SD card slot again in the S21 and haven't brought it back since. That to me is one of the biggest features of Android, and I don't think any of the major flagships this year have it. My current phone is an S20, which is the last Samsung Galaxy to have an SD card slot. It's been 3 years since I got it and I'm hesitant to upgrade to anything because of this. And then of course there's stuff like removing the headphone jack, not including a charger in the box, etc. that Apple started and for some reason Android developers followed. Seems to me like it would be such an easy thing to just not do that stuff and they could easily regain market share.

Agree on the points why Android is losing out. The pricing is one part, of course. Performance really is not that distinguishable anymore, aside from the most serious users. My biggest complaint is with customization: they played Apple's game by following them in taking out expandable storage, removable batteries, charging bricks, etc. Instead of being the one putting pressure on Apple, they followed Apple and tried to be like them. Samsung even had the gall to throw shade at Apple about not removing the charger on their boxes, but they quickly followed suit. The things that made Android the anti-Apple has been slowly stripped off. If they have basically the same stuff as Apple, then people would then considering going the other way instead of Android having them on their hands.

This is missing an importante point: reliability. Support in the lifetime of the device is also relevant today more than ever. Overall good video!

I do like iPhones more, but let me just say that you shaped a lot of information into the direction of Apple. For example when you talked about price: Yes, there are Android phones more expensive than iPhones, but there are also ones, which are ->almost<- as capable, with a pricetag that's hundreds of dollars less. I think nowadays it just really comes down to what people prefer and of course status symbols, maybe blue bubbles.

I think one point that you've missed out on is that when people were getting just the cheapest phone - like many of the Samsung phones you could have gotten for very silly money - they associate their extremely poor experience with those super cheap phones with the brand. So once a person finds themselves at a place where they want to invest into a good experience they will not be going back to the brand they served them the budget experience.

The truth is Apple targeted consumer psyche before they targeted their targeted their competition. While all the Android OEMs spent years just trying to outdo the iPhone (and each other), Apple focused on providing what they already knew their users wanted based on existing products like the Mac and iPod. Their only goal was to make the iPhone it's own device for the Apple consumer, then they worried about the bells and whistles later

I feel like there’s another important point that wasn’t touched on: segmentation. Android users can hear about about really cool features coming to Android, just to have to wait a year or more to even get the beta versions of them because each vendor has their own way of doing things

I choose to use Android because it can do way more, but mainly because I hate Apple as a company.

Android did fell of a cliff. But I'd rather go off-grid, than use apple devices.

Fun fact this is only valid in the US. Android has gained market share worldwide and even in the USA. Samsung has sold 276mi smartphones in 2022, Apple 243, Xiaomi 220. Nobody outside of the US uses SMS or FaceTime, FaceTime is used almost exclusively in the USA they have 125mi users, this pale in comparison with WhatsApp 2 billion or Telegram 700 million. IOS market share is in decline in all markets I don't know where you got your numbers.

The moment Android phones bring back what customers actually liked them for in the first place is when they'll get more popular. I don't know a person who would say they don't want a SD Card slot if they have one, same for removable batteries. Right now Android phones are the same as iPhones in that regard. Only difference is the OS.

I am surprised you didn't mention OS and Software support. The complete lack of OS support and updates, especially for people outside of the US is a huge problem for Android. The last Android phone I had was a Samsung, I wanted to get the latest OS so I could run new apps, so I called Samsung support. They told me that well the update existed, I couldn't have it because I was Canadian and only Americans could get the update. So as a Canadian I was not allowed to run the latest Apps... I bought an iPhone the next day and never looked back.

I once was a diehard Android user, but the straw finally broke when the Camera of my one of my phones had a software based focusing issue. I waited months for a fix to finally be released by Samsung, but nothing came. It was just one of many things that piled up over the years, things like small and major bugs to Android loosing its ability to access the deeper folder structure without the need of a 3rd party app and root access. Also, it's really convenient to just plop in an Apple Store and having your phone repaired in hours or days instead of having to send your phone halfway around the globe, waiting for weeks just to be told your phone is beyond repairable when a previously separate charging port board borked your whole phone.

Android will continue to have more market share because there are countries that most people can't afford an iPhone. Here in Brazil, for example, the cheapest iPhone cost the same as the last year Samsung high end device (S22 Ultra). That means in some tiers, Android doesn't have competition. Some people don't have the luxury of buying the phone they want, they have to buy the one they can afford.

I'll be sticking with Android regardless, but this is all very true. I switched from iPhone to Android in 2019 for customizability and expandable storage, and while it was worth it for the expandable storage alone, Androids now largely aren't much more customizable than iPhones now. From what I've gathered, it's become much easier to install apps not from the app store, and visually the theme options between Android and iOS seem basically on par. Also, some models completely lock down the bootloader, making it impossible to install any kind of custom ROM or app that requires root, making it on par with iPhones in that regard. My current phone is an S20 FE 5G, got it July 2021. Good prices on Androids can be found easily if you browse eBay for relatively recent phones. My phone cost me $300 used as a ~9 month old model, which MSRP'd at $700 iirc. I don't mind the non replaceable battery as much because with AccuBattery it's easy to keep the charge cycles in check and prolong the factory battery's life. I don't mind the lack of headphone jack as much as I thought I would either; Bluetooth headphones can't get tangled up and if I want to use wired, I have the adapter. As long as there continues to be Androids with respectable specs and expandable storage, I'll be sticking with Android. It sucks that all the Androids with removable batteries are nearly unusable except for the most basic of uses (see: Blu View 3, Nokia C100)

I think one of the biggest factors in apple's favor is consistency. When you buy an iPhone you know exactly what to expect. A more or less stable experience that's simple and familiar. With android, companies are constantly changing and you never know what you're going to get next time. But above all in this category, it's old hardware. I've been consistently using an iPhone 8 as my former primary phone and now my secondary phone for years, but it hasn't stopped getting feature updates until just this year. If I got any old android phone, I'd probably have gotten rid of it years ago.

The increase in Apple users around the world is mainly due to iPhones becoming more affordable in the developing countries. As newer iPhones get released the older ones become cheaper.