this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
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So I'm actually a moderately tech-savvy individual. Software engineer, been using Linux since Karmic Koala (of course I've used many other distros since then, including Gentoo for a few years and now I'm using TumbleWeed on one computer and NixOS on another). I can even figure out how a printer works, believe it or not.
I just hate this whole "only stupid people who don't know about tech buy iPhones" rhetoric.
Samsung and Google have caught up in prices. I guess only Google is a tiny bit cheaper, Samsung is definitely right up there with Apple.
OnePlus was a good option if you wanted a cheaper flagship, but they both 1) ruined their OS and 2) went more expensive.
I actually bought an iPhone for 4 primary reasons:
Lightning port is easier to clean out than USB-C and I get a LOT of pocket lint for some reason.
Carplay used the entire screen in my S205 whereas Android Auto had the Android Auto logo on like 1/3 of the screen.
Back when I did it, Apple was the only one giving 5-6 years of major OS upgrades to their old phones and OnePlus only gave me 3, lagging far behind AOSP and the whole OxygenOS to ColorOS switch RUINED the phone for me. I did use a custom ROM for a while before that, but my bank app stopped working with that regardless of whatever I did, so I switched to stock ROM and then upgraded to ColorOS and the phone became nearly unusable. It was 3 years old (the model, anyway; the phone in question was 2 years old). Every single one of my iPhone using friends said that never has a major OS upgrade inconvenienced them in any way.
I just felt like I don't have time to play with custom ROMs and stuff anymore and since I don't, I might as well go with the option that works great out of the box, rather than the one that I can infinitely customize to my liking.
Now, this whole issue: It's not actually using user data AFAIK, so there are no privacy implications in this specific instance IMO. They just allow companies to pay to show up near the top in Maps. Not a move I'm a fan of, but I'm assuming Google has been doing this for a decade or 2 at least.
Does that mean I trust Apple? Fuck no. They're still a for-profit corporation. They still want to make as much profit as possible.
im tech savvy, but i also want to participate in society, so i just buy the best budget android phone i can afford. thats it. all i use are lemmy, my bank, and my phone to pay, and then browse for research
And that’s worse for your data than iOS
I gave up on data privacy a long time ago. When you need to use banking apps and paying with my phone.
Then it’s up to how much one values having slightly better privacy over the rest. You can’t blame someone wanting the best of both worlds without too much effort but at a higher price
Besides, iOS ~~has~~ had a relatively good interface and the best chips and energy efficiency, one of the best cameras, but ofc lacks in other areas
I don't buy the fact that apple is more secure than android. but what do i know, i'm not a mobile OS developer.
Never said more secure
it was kinda on topic. also i dont get how people buy a phone thats half their mortgage payment.
People spend multiple monthly salaries to buy a car that they’ll use less than their phone
good for them. doesn't excuse why phones cost so much
They make a significant margin on them, but note that material cost isn’t the only cost involved. Development and R&D should be included in the price. Same goes for taxes, and different spendings like renting the workspace..
If your cheap phone is made by underpaid workers in China, then you have a part of the answer. Those cheap phones sell your data to make their margin. Some others charge you premium because they’re good and they know it. Obviously they’re making good profit on them, but I wouldn’t say it’s "so much"
you don't think apple doesn't data mine? lol. iphones are overpriced fashion statements. sure they work fine and have good performance but there's no difference in privacy and security between iOS and Android.
Uneducated answer
Proofs? Their privacy policy, the fact that Google is an advertising company, the fact that the "data sharing" of iOS gets leaked regularly and they’re never sold basically
They collect data, but they either use it for recommendations if you’ve enabled (or rather not disabled) that, else they use it for insight and telemetry to get anonymous or pseudonymous with limited lifespan usage data
Obviously, anything non E2EE going to USA servers can be considered compromised and in this context, yea, it’s bad, but it’s not all of it and Google phones a lot more data home
let me ask you something simple. Do you trust apple with your data more than you trust google?
Depends what you mean by trust
If you mean trust that they won’t sell, then yes
If you purely mean security, then Google is better imo
But my beliefs aren’t just based on my preferences. I hate both.
To follow up, on your responses for me both boxes check off equally but not so much as selling as to who they give that information to. You have to setup so much shit and make sure your hardware is air tight to have true privacy. I bet every device you use all of them no matter who you buy it from or what OS it runs, will have a backdoor. It's futile to do all that work when you think using Tor or I2P or whatever protocol you use for network traffic and not use cellular and disable GPS and use only use secure comms when everything has a backdoor.