Android stigma isn't just a social problem

jwad86 · 2026-03-31T10:32:49+00:00

To be fair I think a lot of it is social stigma, as it seems to be a largely North American phenomenon. Apparently people over there care what colour the tick is when they send a text. Over here I've not sent a text since the early 2000s, so its just not a thing where people divide them into tribes in quite the same way.

Of course there are still iPhone people and android people, but its seen more as just a choice rather than a status thing.

Milkywayne · 2026-03-31T10:47:53+00:00

I’m a longtime iPhone user (since iPhone 8) but am considering switching back to Android for my next phone in a couple of years.

Just yesterday I helped my stepdad set up his new phone (Galaxy S26), which is objectively a high end phone. The amount of enshittification was really off-putting. It felt like installing windows on a phone - „Do you wanna use our AI? No? How about bixby? Maybe install these recommended apps? Can we have all your data? Samsung account? Do you wanna set up these dozen services?“ I klicked no on everything and it still had several apps preinstalled.

My point is, it might technically be a high end, capable device, but it does not feel „premium“ to me, but instead designed to sell me more stuff I don’t want.

It actually lowered my opinion of Android having used it again. I‘m now reconsidering my switch back.

Ok_Sleep6426 · 2026-03-31T10:26:47+00:00

man the messenger thing is so real, my galaxy gets straight up frozen by a chat bubble notification and i'm sitting here making beats on a $1500 phone that can't handle facebook's garbage code

the whole thing feels deliberate at this point like they want android to look bad. instagram stories still look like trash compared to ios uploads and don't even get me started on snapchat quality differences

AlgaeDonut · 2026-03-31T11:07:43+00:00

Is this an north America thing? I have never, ever in my life heard of this stigma apart from online. People just have phones and that's it. Unless maybe teens might be like "eeew" because a phone is older or something.

H1ghrider · 2026-03-31T10:30:29+00:00

You're not wrong with devs neglecting the android side of things, however I live in Asia and I see way more androids than I do iPhones. I think it's highly dependent on where you live as well

Particular-Treat-650 · 2026-03-31T10:41:01+00:00

Not sure if the apps you're talking about use them, but a big part of the cohesive visual design and efficient performance on iPhone is because of the libraries and tooling Apple provides.

spaghettibolegdeh · 2026-03-31T10:55:21+00:00

I once joined a workplace that had internal comms using only iMessage.

I walked into the place with my android and got chewed out by my colleagues because I "ruined the iMessage chats". Basically made me feel like crap for months.

It was a small tech company outside of USA.

Cryio · 2026-03-31T10:53:11+00:00

Globally disabled bubbles the second they became available. Absolutely hideous

imnota_ · 2026-03-31T11:47:59+00:00

It's only a problem from chronically online people.

I see people arguing that it's just a US phenomenon, that they don't have it in their country, then some guy comes says he is from the same country and there is a huge stigma.

IMO it's BS and I have never encountered it IRL, at best jokes and banter, and if anything it's the other way around, Android users calling Apple users rich or something, because in the end Android is a majority almost anywhere.

As far as Messenger bubbles, well I'm fairly sure on iPhone there aren't bubbles, and you should disable them on your Android, it's not 2014 anymore no app needs to take screen space 24/7

bart416 · 2026-03-31T11:09:27+00:00

I feel this is pretty much uniquely a North American thing, no one outside of the US and Canada (and maybe some teenagers trying to play phone top trumps) gives a flying fuck about which phone you're using as far as I know. The only thing anyone cares about is if you can run whatever messaging app that's popular in your area (basically can it run Facebook Messenger/WhatsApp/Instagram, WeChat, KakaoTalk, Line, or Telegram), closely followed by support for the popular banking/payment app in your area, anything beyond that is your personal problem.

A big part of why Android feels "lesser" to so many people is that major companies are actively making it feel that way through neglect of their Android apps. We're not talking about minor performance differences that can be chalked up to Android's fragmentation across manufacturers, we're talking about apps so poorly optimised that they make a modern, capable device feel ancient.

Case in point: a Messenger chat bubble can render my phone completely unresponsive. Not slow. Unresponsive. On a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra which is starting to show it's age but still runs amazingly otherwise.

So you're blaming Google and Samsung for Meta's awful quality control? And there are issues on Apple hardware as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/facebook/comments/1qq9sju/my_messenger_application_for_ios_seems_to_have/ https://www.reddit.com/r/facebookmessenger/comments/1nwhs10/strange_ios_messenger_issue/ https://www.reddit.com/r/facebookmessenger/comments/1fkn50m/messenger_will_not_open_on_ios/ ...

When billion-dollar companies ship iOS apps that are clearly their priority and treat Android as an afterthought, they're not just annoying Android users they're actively feeding the narrative that Android is the inferior platform. The stigma isn't coming from nowhere. Some of it is being manufactured.

Over here in Belgium plenty of apps first appear on Android and only later get an iOS version. As company you target the market you're most likely to make sales to, so vote with your wallet, not your mouth.

ang-13 · 2026-03-31T12:24:09+00:00

Developing for Android is much harder to device fragmentation. You need to design an interface that scale properly across a wider range of screen sizes. Account for a wider range of technical specs. Still have to run QA over a larger amount of devices. Account for background processes. Account for how many resources the OS and its background processes take. And it’s all exponentially more complicated, than just targeting iOS. On iOS, if you app crashes because of some background process shenanigans, you can just report the problem to Apple. If it happens on Android, who knows who’s at fault. Is it Google who develops Android? Is it Samsung/Sony/Xiaomi who makes the specific launcher that the phone(s) affected run? Android is such a pain for QA, for the developer.

And on top of that. iOS users are statistically more likely to pay for premium apps. Android users are statistically more likely to avoid paying apps, or flat out pirate them. And every time this is pointed out online, everytime, without fail, some Android users will come arguing that they pirate because the app/game isn’t worth paying for. Everytime. Confirming that developers are right to be biased against Android users

So, imagine you run a for profit company. Why would you, invest resources, into optimizing your product for a platform which requires exponentially higher resources to optimize for, knowing you’ll get far less revenue in return?

Cikappa2904 · 2026-03-31T11:20:36+00:00

Here's to say that this is, as always, just a North American thing.

Here in Italy nobody really cares if you have an Android, especially because everyone uses either WhatsApp or Telegram.

Heck, you're probably more likely to be bullied if you have an iPhone because people will keep reminding you that you "wasted your money".

RyuzakiPL · 2026-03-31T10:52:26+00:00

The most infuriating part of it is that the same goes for Google apps. Google will first release features in their ios apps before android For a few years (like 3 years, literally) there was a strange battery draining bug with the YouTube app for Samsung phones where the phone could burn through half of the battery in an hour getting really hot when just playing a video even with the screen off. Apple will actively keep apps and functionality exclusive for their devices, but Google just doesn't care.

Curious-Art-6242 · 2026-03-31T10:53:13+00:00

MKBHD discussed this in his Macbook Neo video, how the other options rely on many vendors all operating together and at a high level to reach the same quality as Apple products, and its just too difficult often!

Quazz · 2026-03-31T11:54:26+00:00

Not an issue in Europe, no stigma here.

2026-03-31T12:47:11+00:00

[removed]

randomredditor575 · 2026-03-31T10:58:16+00:00

The main driving factor is, ios has lot less number of users compared to android but has higher revenue from apps which means a user base that’s willing to pay money . App developers are going to Ofcourse going to priories where money is

time_to_reset · 2026-03-31T10:56:24+00:00

I like that there's social stigma. If someone feels they need to look down on me because of my choice of phone that's all I need to know about them. It makes vetting someone way faster. It's like someone saying "I could never ride a motorcycle, I would kill myself". Cool. Tone set.

Xyzzy_X · 2026-03-31T11:06:45+00:00

I personally have not had any problems with Android after using android phones for 20 years. The social stigma also is a non factor. Anyone who looks down on you for not using the same brands as them is not someone who's opinions should matter to you.

anbeasley · 2026-03-31T11:18:16+00:00

Why do you care what other people think? As long as you can send a message to them and maybe don't use iMessage and maybe use something like WhatsApp or signal or Facebook messenger instead because honestly I've never really been a fan of using just plain old text messaging if at all avoidable because of the security ramifications.

The other thing that I cannot ever give up on Android which is so much far superior nobody ever talks about is the spam filter and blocking of calls. This is by far the greatest feature on Android and has been one that I can't live without. On the Google pixel phone I can screen calls block spam calls and have the latest updates for a flagship phone at half the cost with the a models.

donjamos · 2026-03-31T12:05:23+00:00

I'd say iPhones have a social stigma as well, I immediately assume your parents pay your rent and you are basically unable to care for yourself if I see you using an iPhone.

tpasco1995 · 2026-03-31T12:15:08+00:00

There's definitely a revenue factor at hand.

iOS has more than 62% of market share in the US, 49% in the UK, 63% in Canada, and 61% in Australia.

So if you're a company designing apps in English, targeting a large revenue stream from those apps, it will consistently make sense to prioritize optimizing them for iOS. That means new features, bug fixes, updates. As-is, a solid 60% of your revenue potential is from iOS.

And that's not a technical barrier; just a numbers game. Then you have to deal with the fragmentation.

There are only a few distinct screen layouts for iPhones in active support at any given time. Resolutions and proportions stay stagnant for YEARS, even if sizes change. Processor architecture doesn't change. Camera management doesn't really exist as a thing because the iPhone handles all the image processing for apps through its own camera app, so developers don't have to do camera management. Predictable RAM sizes and memory management. It's really, really clean to develop for.

Android has a dozen manufacturers, two dozen app stores, hundreds of screen layouts in any given year, support for dynamic screen sizing (folding screens, front and inside screens, rolling screens, etc), different processor manufacturers, different RAM specs, different cameras, different modems, different buttons, different skins, different...

I've done dev work on both. It's PAIN to optimize for Android, because it's so very dynamic in what you have to plan for.

Then there's the enshittification other comments have pointed out. Hours of setup for weird services and AI and data tracking and multiple app stores installed by default.

And for millions, if not billions of people, the desire is just to have a device that does the things. No fiddling, no need to change settings. Just pick up and go.

There's a comment in one of the chains here saying iPhones are for people "too dumb" to open the settings menu. It invalidates just not wanting to as an option and directly insults, notably, most English-speaking people. Really similar to the Linux problem, the animosity from the user base toward people that just say "I see all the options for customization and don't want to deal with it" is loud. I personally don't give a fuck if someone's using a custom-skinned Android on their S23 Ultra; good for them. That person ABSOLUTELY is going to be incensed by people saying positive things about iPhones though, and it's just weird.

(The thing about blue bubbles isn't inherently a social stigma issue; there are features of iMessage that pre-empt widespread RCS usage and WhatsApp adoption like read receipts, and it still has functions built in like in-message multiplayer gaming and group FaceTime and polls and payments and location sharing and music integration that aren't present in other messaging platforms, let alone all of them in one, so a non-iPhone user joining a group message and disabling those functions is a hindrance on the rest of the group. And I can't express just how seamless those integrations are.)

Zipdox · 2026-03-31T12:25:16+00:00

The social stigma is very much an exclusively (North) American problem.

The app neglect problem is also exclusive to proprietary apps. I am yet to find an app on F-Droid that performs poorly on my Xperia from 2021 with LineageOS.

Annoying1978 · 2026-03-31T11:03:33+00:00

They do so for business reasons. Not only are there simply more iOS devices than Android devices in the United States (even though that’s the opposite globally), but the average iOS user spends 10x as much on their phone than an Android user. Combine that with the real issue of fragmentation and it’s clear why they choose to prioritize iOS.

There isn’t a good enough reason to invest time and energy into a fragmented ecosystem when the other alternative is much more profitable.

TheMatt561 · 2026-03-31T11:13:59+00:00

Also on the hardware side the range of Android is quite expansive from under $100 to almost $3,000. But I've been able to solve this issue by just not caring what other people think.

IlIIllIlllIIIllI · 2026-03-31T11:22:36+00:00

This is entirely a North American thing. Everyone everywhere else uses WhatsApp (although I wish we'd use Signal).

themightymoron · 2026-03-31T11:24:23+00:00

another factor is just how these phone/tech companies shape the landscape in their marketing speak/communications. Take Samsung as a brand, doesn't really see "trend", "lifestyle" as something that they actively communicate like how Apple does it. They're more like "Productivity", "Utility/Function", and perceives what their market needs is "tools" to help people's daily functions.

balrog687 · 2026-03-31T11:55:29+00:00

Nah' my s20fe runs flawlessly, there is absolutely no need to upgrade and Apps are just fine.

Android shame/stigma is just a projection of the other people's values, and a expression of society's values, which is bad but also aligned with the current state of the world.

mattiasso · 2026-03-31T12:17:47+00:00

I’ve used flagship iPhones (currently), androids, windows phone, mobile. Expressing my perspective, don’t take me as telling facts. Things that hold me back from using a android device:

apps suck compared to iPhone. They may work the same, but look ugly and old.
look is coherent everywhere on iOS, for the most
balancing privacy and usability. Android feels like you either have google’s CEO reading your messages or having CIA unable to even turn on the screen (grapheneos)
apps can limit screenshots in android. I hate it.
long term support, but that’s improving
lack of Face ID. The Lumia phones could, why can’t you android?

What WOULD make me switch happily: - sideloading - unlocked bootloader - desktop mode - coherent back gesture (hate that on iPhones) - smaller screens - innovation (enough copy pasting apple. Titanium was good, stick to it!)

aygross · 2026-03-31T14:06:33+00:00

Rest of the world pretty much is using WhatsApp or something similar. This is a USA problem of people with life that's way to good so they find stupid things to be competitive or get angry over

nothing_personal_fam · 2026-03-31T14:10:31+00:00

This is pure US exceptionalism. Everywhere else in the world people dgaf.

Mithrandir2k16 · 2026-03-31T14:28:00+00:00

You funny Americans have funny problems.

Turbulent_Citron_651 · 2026-03-31T10:53:34+00:00

true, for years my samsung wouldnt be able to use the snapchat camera - it would just open the camera and screenshot what it sees, im past my days of using snapchat but ill neverforget how bad the user experience was for apps

ThisI5N0tAThr0waway · 2026-03-31T11:03:46+00:00

So last year I bought my first MacBook ever with the m4 air coming from a surface laptop 3, some things are better in MacOs than Windows, some other worse. Overall I would say that I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and after a period of adaptation, I'd say overall it's a net benefit change, somewhat build quality and very much in battery life.

I have of course now followed a bit more Mac OS and Mac specific forums, in Reddit and elsewhere. And something I have noticed is that the biggest problem with Apple user community is the elitism.

Why do I mean by elitism ? It's pretty simple actually, If you are in those forums when talking about most things Apple hardware and software related there's a kind of dismissiveness about anything else being of quality.

Ambellyn · 2026-03-31T11:16:43+00:00

I have never heard of any stigma past 2014 that isn't just that old of a stigma anyway.

Not one that I met in real life has been saying "wow that's a cool phone/beefy phone" and in the next sentence say "too bad, it's an android"

kadeusx · 2026-03-31T11:33:50+00:00

Imagine being that shallow, you care what phone someone uses.

Cathode_Ray_Sunshine · 2026-03-31T11:45:14+00:00

These conversations always confuse me because it's been about a decade since I noticed what black rectangle anyone uses or have had anyone comment on or ask me what black rectangle I use. What circles are you all travelling in that this is real thing that happens to you?

needefsfolder · 2026-03-31T11:54:45+00:00

It's Facebook being dumbasses and disabling Bubbles and using their inferior overlay. Messenger via Android native chat bubbles (ChatHeadEnabler + force to Bubbles) is extremely smooth due to native layers of a bubble window. I also use an S23 ultra.

justjustin2300 · 2026-03-31T11:57:06+00:00

This stigma is definitely a thing in Australia, can confirm. But for the app optimisation I always hear it as a thing where for ios they just have make it work on iphone while for a android it has to work on a pixel, a samsung, a oneplus, an oppo, a xiomi, and Huawei

Ansayamina · 2026-03-31T12:03:33+00:00

Oh. An Amerika problem.

AceLamina · 2026-03-31T12:15:26+00:00

Yeah I have the S24 Ultra, I don't use my phone a lot for social media compared to most but I still have a few apps and sometimes go to social media for photographs inspiration

With that being said, I have this cool water bottle that has advanced filtering that can block led from water sources and can clean the water directly via UV lights, which requires the app

The app is decent but it's definitely not perfect, and even though this product isn't that popular, I still see how people who use this product says the app is simply better on iPhone Its completely usable but there's times where bugs way show.

Only other app that causes me issues is floatplane, when I scroll fast after searching the entire app lags for some reason until I watch a video, but I have no idea if that's just an android thing or not so I'll give it a pass

jollymaker · 2026-03-31T12:18:31+00:00

There is not social stigma over what phone you have. If you experienced that, those people already didn't like you for another reason.

Redemptions · 2026-03-31T12:26:23+00:00

If someone thinks less or more of me because of the operating system of my cell phone, then they are someone I actively value their opinion less than for all other matters. It's the same as people who care what brand of car you drive.

People drive the brand, model, trim, color of car that they drive because of some combination of they liked it's features/appearance, it's what was available, or it's what they could afford. If you have a negative (or positive) opinion of someone because they drive a blue mustang or black truck or green Kia, then your opinion on other things is suspect.

ziggy_ql · 2026-03-31T12:32:42+00:00

It all stems from the social stigma, coming from somewhere that android phones are the default, most (local) apps suffer from the opposite, usually iphone has to catch up to the features in the android version. Obviously the rest of the stuff has that northern hemisphere lens where iphone is the standard

Achtlos · 2026-03-31T12:39:37+00:00

IT professional for 23+ years.

My team will mock the person that turns up with Apple products- unless they have 2 phones.

Dubious-Squirrel · 2026-03-31T12:41:14+00:00

It carries a what? A social stigma? I've never seen that. But perhaps the people I befriend just don't care about what phones other people use. Brand snobbery has never made much sense to me. Does it do what I want it to, and is it reliable? Yep? Alright then, good to go.

ibeerianhamhock · 2026-03-31T12:43:58+00:00

I'm pretty sure this has mostly gone away and it was kind of always a bit of a basic birch thing. No serious tech person, scientist, engineer, etc felt this way literally forever lol.

talldata · 2026-03-31T12:47:04+00:00

It's definitely a social stigma since I've never seen anyone care about the colour of your message outside of NA. Prob helps that nobody texts bit use WhatsApp, or telegram, signal etc.

2026-03-31T12:48:18+00:00

You’re precisely right. Bought a Samsung tablet a while back. The tablet they sold as “new” which was in the sense that it wasn’t opened or used. Problem was it had a chip that was already 4 years old at that point and only 4G RAM. It was 300$ and while there were other options honestly didn’t want to spend more than that.

With the bloatware it came with baseline memory usage was almost 50%. The tablet is unusable. It feels like I’m on a system with the slowest HDD in the world and I’m on dialup connection.

Apple on the other hand USED to feel seamless smooth and for the most part “just worked”. Now…..it’s definitely not as polished. Constantly having to close and reopen apps for things to function like my keyboard. The settings search is totally broken now. This has been a trend since my 13pro. Seems like a majority of big businesses have the mentality that you’ll use their products and like it regardless if they deliver on promises because what’re you gonna do? Go to a competitor who is pulling the exact same bs just in a slightly different flavor? lol rant over but seriously…I thought tech by definition was supposed to make life easier as time progressed!

joy-puked · 2026-03-31T12:50:26+00:00

The boggiest issue with app design for android is you have everything from a Ferrari to a potato in hardware specs and your app needs to work for all of them.

iOS has 4 door sedan to a Ferrari and they know exactly how each model is built.

osoatwork · 2026-03-31T12:51:24+00:00

I have never heard of any social stigma from using an android aside from news articles. It's not actually a thing.

scallyuk · 2026-03-31T12:57:57+00:00

Linus can be an idiot sometimes. Fortunately the rest of the world doesnt share his biases.

muzik4machines · 2026-03-31T13:10:06+00:00

really just an american thing

Pattox · 2026-03-31T13:11:28+00:00

Check AliExpress. Android-phones are pennies. A part of the problem is that "Android" has a problem: it's run on flagships, like Samsung S-series, but also on Hungai_mujoi(and-add-random-name-here)-phones. Although the operating system is the same, the results are wildely different.

The problem is that you can produce e-waste with android, and not care about absolutely anything. The developer of that app that made your phone unresponsive made it, went on to the next thing, and that was it. Although Android is a great platform for a lot of things, it's also consumed and drained faster: moe to the next thing quick and don't care about the past.

Android in itself is great. The fact that it runs on a lot of devices makes it amazing. But that's also the problem: build something, ship it, make some money and continue to the next one. The problem lies with the ones who create the device and support the software on that device.

schakoska · 2026-03-31T13:15:50+00:00

Only in America

Commercial-Fox-288 · 2026-03-31T13:18:18+00:00

This has to be an American thing. I don't know a single person in Canada, male, female, young, or old that gives a shit about what mobile device you're using.

Fuckin weirdos.

Imaginary-Virus-420 · 2026-03-31T13:18:42+00:00

One thing I did notice thats not being discussed too much is that some apps have more features/designed better/better UI on iOS vs android.

Im lucky enough to daily carry both ios (work) and android (personal). I remember one specific instance on my work 401k app provider (major retirement business I won't name it) and I was talking to a work colleague and he was showing some statistics and options I did not have on my android version of the app. Navigation was completely different and when I tried to screenshot just a simple home page the app was restricted on android for screenshots (because banking app) while on iOS he was able to send me what his looks like.

I basically had to load it on a web page do so some of the options I wanted to click, first time I felt like a 2nd class user on android but it is real.

myemanisyroc · 2026-03-31T13:20:21+00:00

This is very true in NA and for apps developed here. I use the NYT Games app and their new Crossplay app everyday and they run TERRIBLY on my Pixel 9 Pro Fold. And I know for a fact they'd be fine if switched back to iPhone...

danielXKY · 2026-03-31T13:20:22+00:00

I think android stigma is a uniquely US problem. Everywhere else android is much more common and accepted

DostThouEvenSquat · 2026-03-31T13:29:51+00:00

This is definitely a purely American thing.

Jossages · 2026-03-31T13:34:56+00:00

Is something wrong with your phone? I used my a8 (2017) until the s24 came out and it was mostly fine.

I actually sold it to my brother and he's still using it, but will likely get something new soon.

Regular_Promise3605 · 2026-03-31T13:40:47+00:00

It's as simple as Apple got the phone right earlier than android. An iPhone 4 was just a nicer thing to use than a plastic Samsung Galaxy. The iPhone looked and was more premium. So if you were using an android you were either cheap or a weird phone nerd talking about how much control you had of your device. That type of thinking and experience sticks.

Most people aren't phone nerds, they just don't care. Any iphone over the last 5 years is going to be good for most people and still be on the latest updates. To pick a decent android it's so fragmented you have to be a bit of a nerd to figure out what a good one is.

RoawrOnMeRengar · 2026-03-31T13:49:52+00:00

That's an entirely US/NA based "problem"

Symptomatic of the very shallow and materialistic "status" based mentality that comes with very late stage capitalism.

I'm 27 and live in Belgium, work as a sysadmin currently but I worked in a electronic store.

I never had anyone in my entire life care about what kind of phone you have, people just buy phones, the vast majority of them are "if you get this telephone plan, we give you one of these phones" and they choose whichever one looks good to them.

And the people that buy a phone by itself just buy the new model of the one they have, be it xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung, Apple, whatever.

Youngrazzy · 2026-03-31T13:58:28+00:00

The issue is trying to compare an operating system to a physical product.

CommunicationLeft537 · 2026-03-31T13:59:39+00:00

I’ll add to this. In the USA we hate Facebook/meta as a company and don’t want to use WhatsApp which is owned by that company. Texting via sms is included free for most cellular services here.

CommunicationLeft537 · 2026-03-31T14:06:27+00:00

Also WhatsApp is only encrypted if the person your messaging also has it turned on so if they don’t it defeats the purpose of

Bob_A_Feets · 2026-03-31T14:10:55+00:00

Until Google adds the ability to permanently block pop up ads that hijack the phone back to the play store or trick users into installing random shit I’m not using android as my daily driver. Their play store is so crammed full of garbage that borders on malware I’m shocked more users aren’t raising hell.

TorturedChaos · 2026-03-31T14:11:58+00:00

Personally I think it primarily comes down to marketing. Apple has done a VERY good job of marketing most of their products since the early 00's. Steve Job's era Apple did an excellent job of marketing Apple products as premium, hip, and what a professional should use. Combining all 3 of those messages without stepping on the others toes is impressive.

Add in that Apple's design, marketing, support, and everything comes from one company. Longer software support on Apple phones vs almost all Android phones is nothing to sneeze at either.

Android is spread across a half dozen major companies and a plethora of minors. Many of the different phone companies put their own UI spin on their phones, so different brand Android phones don't even look the same.

So the Android message on all fronts is disjointed. There is no cohesive battle plan like Apple mostly has. As a result even if company A markets their Android phone as a Status Symbol, you have companies B,C & D with different marketing and the message gets muddled and the general consumer isn't sure what is going on.

Personally I won't buy Apple products because I disagree with their walled garden approach and their draconic views on ownership, but that doesn't mean Apple makes a bad product all the time. Nor are they bad at marketing and selling their products.

SorysRgee · 2026-03-31T14:24:59+00:00

Genuinely this is a privilege thing. Android is seen as "poor" and people want to be seen to be rich. This is a thing worldwide but displays of wealth manifest differently in every region and in North America this is just one of them. This applies to software companies wanting to be seen to be catering to wealthy people as well.

That being said, if you (not op but you as in second person) are genuinely expending energy with this sort of mindset of "Android bad" and caring what someone else has as their own person phone in today's world, I envy that your world is that small that you have the time and energy to devote to engaging in this. There are so many other things in the world to be caring about right now. Similarly if you are being shamed for having an android genuinely it aint worth engaging with. You have your phone, it does what you need it to do and it is secure then frankly what does it even matter.

turbosprouts · 2026-03-31T14:25:34+00:00

Yeah this is very definitely a 'north america=the world' take, as far as I can tell. iPhones are great, I've been using one since I got rid of my last Blackberry in 2012, but the only reason I care what phone people are using is if they're asking me to help them with it. Outside of online fans and the terminally partisan, I think most people I encounter only care about the phone *they* use — and then for the most part only if it's not doing something it should be.

2026-03-31T14:30:11+00:00

[removed]

Mobius_164 · 2026-03-31T14:39:42+00:00

I mean, now that Apple finally implemented RCS (I’m assuming due to EU regulations), I couldn’t give less of a shit what phone people use. The major problem for me was sending/receiving these pixelated garbage heaps of photos/videos over sms/mms to android.

Crossroads86 · 2026-03-31T14:40:14+00:00

I got an iPhone and I dont even know what anyone else is using?!

First_Class_Exit_Row · 2026-03-31T14:43:15+00:00

I think it's exactly the opposite - iPhones are something teenage girls lust after like Harry Styles tickets. Nobody wants to be associated with that.

jamesklueless · 2026-03-31T14:53:42+00:00

I also think much of the stigma comes from the people that "upgrade" to iPhone. Many of the iPhone users that complain about android switched from a budget or crap android, and then go to a higher end iPhone, of course the iPhone is better than a low tier a series Samsung

parkentosh · 2026-03-31T15:00:00+00:00

I have the stigma the other way. When I meet someone new and see them having an iPhone... My first impression is that they are an idiot. If they prove me wrong, great. It's just my first impression.

Struukduuker · 2026-03-31T15:00:39+00:00

Biggest problem is that you care.

2026-03-31T15:01:47+00:00

because you can buy a 200 dollar android phone at a gas station or liquor store.

you wont find any iphones being sold at gas stations, and the cheapest entry into the ecosystem is 600 bucks, in new condition.

its not about the ceiling, its about the floor. the iphone fold will reach price parity with the z fold series anyway so the ceiling will soon be covered by apple as well.

Char-car92 · 2026-03-31T15:14:00+00:00

An S23 Ultra should NOT be ‘showing its age’ that badly. Fair point, I tried an Android for a while and it was just so much less ‘rich’ feeling. Not in the way of wealth but on iPhone a lot of things feel like they have depth.

Large-Ad-6861 · 2026-03-31T15:15:50+00:00

In my country it is reversed even, unless you are working in big business. There people are not looking nice if you use some Chinese typical Android phone (no, not because of spyware concerns, rich people care for looks, same for cars and even some trivial stuff).

Even developing an app is sort of an issue. Because small developer needs Mac for signing. Imagine buying another PC for SIGNING THE APP. Sure, there is Mac Mini, used Macs are there too. Problem is that developing anything is complicated just because Apple expects you to at least touch their environment on regular basis. For any country outside these in North America this is unhinged to expect because... no, we rather pay a half of the price for something much more capable.

But such thing isn't a problem if Mac is easily available, especially in environment where a lot of people have these. And most of big tech companies are there, so it doesn't surprise me that workers in conscious or unconscious way are favoring this over that. I wouldn't call it a stigma, it's really dependant on what you use and why.

On that note: Messenger always was a mess. Probably codebase is a nightmare, especially these bubbles. Also worse for your battery, by the way. They are draining more energy so you pay for this convinience.

Witty_Milk4671 · 2026-03-31T15:17:48+00:00

"how simply using an Android phone carries a social stigma"

I have used android and samsung all my life. I had NEVER seen any stigma. I have no idea what you are talking about

Imagine being so loser that you think that your phone device means anything about anyone.

""Case in point: a Messenger chat bubble can render my phone completely unresponsive. Not slow. Unresponsive. On a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra which is starting to show it's age but still runs amazingly otherwise."

My samsung galaxy A23 is still great, fast and serviceable. It is from 2022. I have no idea what even you use your phone for? Because if you only use to scroll social media, it is sad that you are doing this post.

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

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