In today’s society, mobile devices have become a fundamental tool for communication and social interaction. However, among young people in the United States there is a trend in which they prefer to have an Apple device instead of an Android mobile from any manufacturer.
The preference does not refer to the features or specifications offered by Apple devices over Android terminals. And, it is that, if this were the case, it would even be understandable that, due to their own demands, they prefer to have an iPhone instead of an Android mobile due to the use of Applications like iMessage or AirDrop.
How has this situation come about? As the report published by the Financial Times indicates, the percentage of users born after 1996 who use iPhone in the United States is 34% compared to 10% of users with Samsung Android phones results in a clear disadvantage and preference towards Apple.
These figures reveal a latent problem in the youth of the United States and that, in fact, it is not new. Over the last few years, some discrimination has developed, with all the nuances of the word, towards users who use Android mobile devices in their day-to-day lives. But the worst thing is that it seems that this is not going to end.
Using an Android phone in the United States causes embarrassment for young people
The preference towards the iPhone instead of the mobile Android has given rise to situations such as the phenomenon known as “the green bubble shame” or “the shame of the green bubble”. This situation refers to the color that is used in the Android messaging application as opposed to Apple’s.
This trend has been and is quite noticeable among young people, who use the mobile device as a form of expression and a means to socialize with friends and family. Young people consider that having an Android mobile distances them from their groups of friends and in social circles in general.
In fact, in some cases, users with Android mobile phones have been kicked out of messaging groups for not having an iPhone. The situation has reached a point where the problem is not only the shame of having an Android mobile, this shame translates into certain harassment towards other users.
The representation of this problem has even been taken to social networks, where users are participants in trends in which situations are discussed with a hypothetical tone, but which reflect a reality. The specific example is the “trend” in which a person is given a 10 grade until it is discovered that they have an Android mobile.
Upon discovering this feature, the score drops since the general consideration of having an Android mobile is not positive. It is not the only representation of the correlation between the social status of a person with the mobile phone they have in their pocket, in fact, a person with few resources tends to be associated with owning an Android mobile.
There are even nicknames for users who use an Android mobile. According to the study, these people are called “Android guy” being something completely pejorative and that is used to insult what was said a few lines above. No person, in America’s youth circles, wants to be the “Android guy.”.
From shame a round business has been born. Throughout the study, there is talk about the fact that users of an iPhone are obviously prone to fall into the Apple ecosystem and, therefore, participate in the business of the Cupertino company. In fact, it is normal to have several Apple devices on top.
The iPhone is the center of the galaxy and around it orbit the iPad, Apple Watch, MacBook, AirPods and the string of products that Apple has in its portfolio. This need to shape a galaxy of technology is rewarded by social status within a hierarchy that has been born from nothing.
Apple is aware of the situation and, in fact, Tim Cook himself knows that he has the situation under control. iPhones are up 66% since 2009 and Apple thinks people are happy about it since according to Tim Cook, they are paying for the best money can buy in the mobile market so they do it with a smile on their lips.
Social circles have changed and now The key element to climb the popularity pyramid in the United States is an iPhone. Android phones are classified as functional devices, but with too many negative connotations to be attractive to young people in the country where Steve Jobs was born.