this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023

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While Android as a whole continues to shrink in the US, Google Pixel keeps growing (9to5google.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Android is struggling to keep its market share in the United States, as Apple continues to take over in the market. But, despite Android as a whole losing ground, Google Pixel phones are becoming a bigger slice of the US market.

Counterpoint Research reports that, in Q2 2023, US smartphone shipments dropped by 24% year-over-year. That includes both iPhones and Android phones, and virtually every brand saw a drop in shipments. Samsung saw US shipments drop by 37% while Motorola saw a 17% drop. TCL saw the biggest decline at just shy of 70% year-over-year, and even Apple saw a 6% drop.

all 41 comments

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I use a pixel and I have a hard time justifying a different phone.

Maybe things have changed but the last Samsung I had was an S7 and I didn't like it. It suffered from bloat and didn't last all that long. Battery issues and the screen started to lose sensitivity.

I've used iphones and they aren't bad, but I really dislike apple's app store and effort to control everything on my phone. Also everytime a new phone came out my old phone became next to unusable for a month.

I got a pixel 3 and loved it, now I have a pixel 6 and don't see changing my phone any time soon or going to a non-pixel phone. They last a long time, they work well with everything and the camera is excellent.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can you explain what you mean by bloat with the s7? I have that and like my phone, just wondering why others don't.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember having an S6 and it come with so many apps preinstalled that you can't uninstall. There's the default Google/android apps which is fine because those are the basics. Then Samsung puts a bunch of their own apps on there that basically duplicates a bunch of these and can't be uninstalled, and then there's other bloat apps like Facebook, maybe candy crush or some shit, maybe Netflix, that all can't be uninstalled. The worst offender is Facebook because it was on almost any other phone not running stock android but supposedly had deeper privileges as a "system" app

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There’s the default Google/android apps which is fine because those are the basics.

And this is the problem, and it's absurd that google haven't been stopped from doing this by any anti-competition regulators. Samsung don't want google apps on their phones, they have to have them. Samsung make their own, and they're often better than googles and are far more integrated into the OS.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They don't have to have them. Mine doesn't.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They have to from the factory.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. They don't.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What Samsung phones come without google apps and google play services installed?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

None of them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So you’re just contradicting yourself then, and admitting it…….

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

...nope

You're conflating having them with "have to have" them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No I’m not. They have to have them because google forces them on all phones that have google play services.

You seem confused. Do you even understand what’s being discussed here?

Samsung do not sell a single phone that doesn’t have all the google bloat apps on it. You can’t remove them. You disagreed, then agreed, then disagreed within 3 posts.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

They have to have them because google forces them on all phones that have google play services.

No they don't.

You seem confused. Do you even understand what’s being discussed here?

Samsung do not sell a single phone that doesn’t have all the google bloat apps on it.

You're the one who is confused. I've been saying the same thing the whole time: that "Google bloat" is not required. I know because I don't have it and have removed it from several devices.

You keep reiterating that none of them don't have this Google software, as if it contradicts the previous statement, but it does not.

Once again, having this software doesn't mean that they have to have this software.

This is the last time I'll be repeating myself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I've used https://shop.fairphone.com/ for a while now, a bit less slick and more expensive, but I'm very satisfied. I already degoogled completely, can't have a Google phone now :D

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What does Fairphone offer for the car infortainment interface, or are you stuck without one?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't own a car, no idea.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The maddening thing is how much effort Samsung wastes duplicating basic gapps. Their contacts manager, calendar, etc has no real advantages over the Google ones. Just focus on the hardware and overall experience? Stop wasting time reinventing the wheel. Same with their app store. I've had an S20 for the last 4 years. Used Samsung since the S2 which I still have. And am looking at a pixel to replace it since my security updates are running out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The maddening thing is how much effort Samsung wastes duplicating basic gapps. Their contacts manager, calendar, etc has no real advantages over the Google ones.

They do have advantages over the google ones though. One big advantage is that "they're not google ones".

Stop wasting time reinventing the wheel. Same with their app store.

A google monopoly should be the last thing anyone wants. You should be wishing more developers would put their apps on the Samsung Store along with any other stores.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have a hard time justifying a different phone

A pixel doesn't have SD card slot or 3.5 mm jack. My Xperia 1V has both. There. Justified.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean most consumers don't care about those 🤷‍♀️

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

most consumers have shit taste 🤷‍♀️

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or those features just aren't that useful in modern phones...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

If I'm paying flagship money then I want all features that's even slightly useful

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Google keeps locking tons of Android features away behind their own privatized software stack.

Better for Google, but they are cutting their nose to spite their face here, as Android as a whole suffers for it.

Stuff like call screening in the android dialer would be possible on any brand of device. But no, pixel only.

The pixels have the very best android experience. It comes close to iPhone. But pixels aren't the whole market. Overall Google is trying to claw back control of the entire platform and I hate it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Stuff like call screening in the android dialer would be possible on any brand of device. But no, pixel only.

Other OEMs also have their own features that are exclusive to their own phones. They can also implement them into AOSP, but they don't. Instead, they keep the features to their own devices. A lot of times when there's a new feature on Android in general, more often than not you'll see comments like "Samsung had this since years ago".

So if other OEMs are allowed to have platform specific features, Google is allowed to have theirs too. Or in other words, if you want to hold Google responsible for holding back Android, you have to also hold other OEMs responsible too.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There needs to be a 3rd mobile platform that isn't tied to Android. I really wish the Ubuntu phone took off, but Linux on mobile in general would be a really good thing... stock Debian or something. Then if an OEM wants to make their own distro to customize some things they can. I know this is done with Android today, but the ties to Google and the conflict of interest will also make that a weird relationship. I think the road for that will be very long without some corporate backing to fund full time developers for it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem of android is that it is "fake opensource". The OS itself is open source but google locks it down with GMS so google still controls everything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Bingo.

AOSP is open source. Cool. In order to make AOSP useful to 99% of the population you need Google Play Services, which aren't open source. To get Google Play Services you need to agree to install 20+ non-removable Google apps, none of which are open source.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There needs to be a 3rd mobile platform that isn’t tied to Android

There wont be a 3rd platform for the same reason that America wont have a 3rd Political Party.

You'll never edge out the incumbents.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I got a pixel 7a about 6 months ago. It's a brilliant phone, once you remove all the google shit / bloat and block all the trackers.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If everyone is dropping in market shares, who's gaining?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there an Android phone that supports dual boot? I would like to have that so can use Lineage or something similar and only boot into Google android when I need to use banking app or government ID that requires the safetynet antifeture. This would free me from carrying two phones. But I suppose a locked down bootloader can not support dual boot and an unlocked will not support the safetynet antifeature.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

GrapheneOS is what keeps me from switching from Pixel.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Watch the Louis Rossman video on YouTube about Graphene OS developer.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I feel like Google really hit their stride with the Pixel 6/7 series. The 7 series especially is just such a nice phone to use and doesn't feel as cheap as previous iterations of the Pixel. It's also great value for the money. I went with the Pro and would recommend against it honestly, because while I like the extra camera and the bigger screen it really doesn't fit great in the average persons hand and the features don't really justify the cost. If I had to do it over again I would get the 7 or 7a.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I honestly think the Pixel 5 is the best phone I have ever used. I have the P7 and I kind of wish I had stuck with the P5.