Eh yes and no. I’m a firm member of the function over form camp.
I’ve had Androïd for a decade after Apple forced an update to the iPhone 3G that made it so slow you couldn’t even dial a number anymore.
But a couple years ago, I bought a used iPhone 6s because I got tired of the Androïd flakiness and lack of quality in general. All my trust in google also eroded over time.
I don’t regret jumping ships again. The iPhone works well, I can still block all ads (except in the YouTube app) using nextdns.io, my 6 years old iPhone still gets updates and runs well. The only thing I miss is newpipe but the trade off was worth it.
The 50$ China androids you mention are riddled with spyware and provide few or no updates once the phone has been released. Then you have to deal with alternative roms if they exist which means you’re spending more time making your phone work that actually being able to use it normally.
Not saying it can appeal to some but it’s not for everyone if you want something that just works and is affordable.
I paid 200$ for my used iPhone 2 years ago and I’m keeping it until they stop proving iOS updates AND then new features in the new iOS would actually be useful to me.
I replaced the battery myself last year (cost 10$ + the ifixit tool set for 70$ which I’ve used many times to fix other things). It’s not quite 50$ but it’s not 1000$ either.
Edit: not talking about MacBooks. This is a completely different story with brain dead decisions to look good even if it fails constantly (their shitty keyboards of the last 4–5 years) or refusing to even acknowledge let alone fix serious issues (like that MacBook with the gpu desoldering itself and failing in groves while apple was saying lalalalala and ignoring the problem for YEARS. I won’t ever buy a MacBook, they’re not good value and I don’t trust Apple to make good decisions about them or own up their mistakes with them. Plus they cost multiples more than a decent used laptop or workstation on which you can run Linux and upgrade components whenever needed so it can last you 5–10 years.
I’ve had Androïd for a decade after Apple forced an update to the iPhone 3G that made it so slow you couldn’t even dial a number anymore.
But a couple years ago, I bought a used iPhone 6s because I got tired of the Androïd flakiness and lack of quality in general. All my trust in google also eroded over time.
I don’t regret jumping ships again. The iPhone works well, I can still block all ads (except in the YouTube app) using nextdns.io, my 6 years old iPhone still gets updates and runs well. The only thing I miss is newpipe but the trade off was worth it.
The 50$ China androids you mention are riddled with spyware and provide few or no updates once the phone has been released. Then you have to deal with alternative roms if they exist which means you’re spending more time making your phone work that actually being able to use it normally.
Not saying it can appeal to some but it’s not for everyone if you want something that just works and is affordable.
I paid 200$ for my used iPhone 2 years ago and I’m keeping it until they stop proving iOS updates AND then new features in the new iOS would actually be useful to me.
I replaced the battery myself last year (cost 10$ + the ifixit tool set for 70$ which I’ve used many times to fix other things). It’s not quite 50$ but it’s not 1000$ either.
Edit: not talking about MacBooks. This is a completely different story with brain dead decisions to look good even if it fails constantly (their shitty keyboards of the last 4–5 years) or refusing to even acknowledge let alone fix serious issues (like that MacBook with the gpu desoldering itself and failing in groves while apple was saying lalalalala and ignoring the problem for YEARS. I won’t ever buy a MacBook, they’re not good value and I don’t trust Apple to make good decisions about them or own up their mistakes with them. Plus they cost multiples more than a decent used laptop or workstation on which you can run Linux and upgrade components whenever needed so it can last you 5–10 years.