The way in which Apple and its modern devices burst into our lives is worth studying. The younger generations, those who have grown up with a smartphone in hand, have seen their way of relating to and understanding the world altered to a greater or lesser extent as a result of technology.
According to data from the Attain company, Generation Z – which includes those born between 1997 and 2012 – represents 34% of all iPhone owners in the United States and only 10% of Samsung device owners. This has caused some of the younger customers to fear being socially judged for not having an iPhone device.
This question would explain the reason for the increase in the market share of Apple’s smartphone in the United States, which in 2019 was 35% and in 2020 50%, according to Counterpoint data. This increase allowed the technology company to increase its profits at a time when the general market was stagnating.
The dominance of the Cupertino company over the younger generations is very significant in the United States, where in the case of the older generations the proportion of Android device owners is similar to that of Apple device owners, giving a certain parity.
Shannon Cross, an analyst at Credit Suisse, explains to the Financial Times that the strength of technology “creates a fairly impenetrable moat for competition.” He adds that this makes the possibility of a trajectory change very difficult, so “Apple is just going to keep gaining share over time.”
Of all the age groups, Generation Z is the most interconnected, a direct consequence of growing up as digital natives for whom the mobile is an essential communication tool. This causes the dominance that Apple exercises over them to directly condition their social circles.
One reason the iPhone is so widespread among America’s young population – who spend an average of six hours a day on screens – is that iMessage, Apple’s messaging app, isn’t compatible with the devices. android. This service is widespread in the country, which makes the iPhone a necessity for its use.
If only one person in an iMessage group chat has an Android smartphone, messages will turn from blue to green, making the conversation an SMS exchange instead of iMessage.
Annelise Hillman, executive director of Frontman, explains to the Financial Times that “one green message kills all the chat, because then everything has to be in SMS format.” With all of this, “the social pressure to get an iPhone is pretty insane,” and it’s not uncommon for Android device users to be electronically barred from group chats.
The preference for Apple mobile devices in this age group continues to spread in the United States, being much more pronounced in the country than in other geographic areas. However, according to a study by Canalys, 83% of Apple users under the age of 25 in Western Europe want to continue using an iPhone, with the percentage for Android devices falling to less than half.
In an attempt to solve Apple’s refusal to extend the use of the iMessage service to models from other manufacturers, Google and its Android system launched a marketing campaign a few months ago criticizing the technology’s decision not to integrate Rich Communication Services (RCS). ), a higher standard than SMS, and the digital exclusion that this implies.
