Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones are extremely popular amongst teens in the US. Nearly 9 in 10 teens say they either already have an iPhone or that their next phone will be an iPhone. Now, Google's Hiroshi Lockheimer has revealed more depressing news for Android – it's actively losing users to the iPhone every year.
What Happened: Investment firm Piper Sandler's latest survey has revealed a startling statistic showing that US teenagers absolutely love the iPhone.
Adding insult to the injury, Android boss Lockheimer has revealed that up to 10% of Android users are switching to the iPhone every year.
Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) chief Sundar Pichai and Lockheimer took the stand during the hearing on Tuesday.
Lockheimer revealed this during the sixth day of Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s (OTCPK: TCEHY) Epic Games vs. Google antitrust lawsuit. He said young people are "predominantly picking iPhones," adding that 4-10% of Android users switch to iPhones yearly.
Apple's sheer dominance is not surprising – iPhones have a market share of 55% in the US, despite an overall slowdown in smartphone shipments.
Why It Matters: Teenagers surpassed the 80% threshold for owning or anticipating an iPhone as their next device back in Spring 2018.
Since then, their loyalty to the brand has only strengthened, with the percentage consistently increasing or remaining stable over the years.
Apple's use of green bubbles for messages sent from Android phones, as opposed to blue bubbles for iMessage, has also contributed to this trend – many teenagers strongly prefer blue bubbles and are seemingly averse to green ones.
This color-coding system has been a source of contention in the Android world, leading companies like Google, Samsung, and OnePlus to criticize Apple for coloring their messages green.
Carl Pei-led Nothing has gone as far as launching a custom solution that lets its users have their messages appear in blue bubbles, but it could end up being shut down by Apple at any point.
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