I don’t care if anyone has a Xiaomi, Oneplus, Samsung, etc. Each brand is using a modified version of Android, and they chose to be compatible with each other. But for example the “blue vs green bubble” drama is a thing specifically because of Apple locking their unsuspecting users into a closed ecosystem. And it sure isn’t Android’s fault for not being compatible with it.
The more power a company like this gains, the worse will it be for the whole industry.
iPhone vs Android has always been more about trendiness than practicality in the social groups I’ve been in. We’re all still Penny from Inspector Gadget walking around with most of the world’s knowledge within arm’s reach.
I don’t get buying flagship models of either type for $800+ then only using them for texting in the default messaging app, taking photos that are marginally better than the photos three models ago, and social media/spotify with earbuds. And then paying like $90/month for service. Even the “budget” iPhone SE is still over $400.
You can get essentially the same setup on a $150 Android with service for $20/month. If you are in the small group of people who actually want to do more things with a phone like use unofficial app repos or turn it into an actual server that self-hosts all kinds of shit (web server, media library, a couple offer one-off applications all backed up in a cloud service) you can then do that much more easily on an Android phone, and for much cheaper. In fact, I don’t know anyone who is doing any or that on an iPhone anymore.
And when they stop releasing updates for your model, you can still install custom firmware that stays up to date.