Half of all Android users may soon switch to iPhone (says an expert)
They're cute, of course. But overwhelmingly cute? Surely not.
Where were you when the big moment happened?
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Were you standing? Seated? Shocked? Could you speak? Did you scream? Did faint quivers invade your body?
You may need to prepare yourself for an enormous event that's about the cast a dark shadow over everything you assumed about life. And people. And phones.
I know this could be big because someone who's really supposed to know about these things says it could be colossal.
Are you ready?
The minute the iPhone SE (2022) emerges, half of all Android users may toss their Motorolas, LGs, Samsungs, and Pixels onto the mobile scrapheap.
No, this isn't my prediction. (But thank you.)
It appears to be the notion of JP Morgan's big brains, particularly five-star analyst Samik Chatterjee.
Reuters reports the reasoning as quite simple: the iPhone SE (2022) will be cheap and enjoy 5G. Whereas many people only own Android phones because they're cheap.
Ergo, say these experts, 1.4 billion Android users -- roughly half of all the Android users in the world -- may have their heads turned toward the little new iPhone.
Well, at least they'll now be able to participate in their friends' and families' group chats, I suppose.
And then there's 5G. Everyone will soon have that, right? Soonish, I mean. As soon as it gets somewhere near them, maybe. Whenever that might be.
For Chatterjee, the calculation is brazenly straightforward: "Apple's trade-in program for non-iPhones is admittedly not as attractive as the iPhone trade-in values. It could nonetheless lead to an average starting price range of $269 to $399 for the 5G iPhone SE, which is still very competitive."
I'm trying to imagine vast pyres of Android phones all over the world. I'm trying to imagine Android-dumping parties, where new iPhone SE (2022) owners ceremonially toss their old Android phones into the air and shoot them as they come down. (Only in America, of course.)
I'm also trying to imagine overwhelmed Apple stores having to open for seventeen hours a day to cope with the rush.
And then I say to my imagination: "Oh, come on. You do have your good days, but just stop, will you?"
Over recent times, Apple has considerably stretched the value propositions of its various phones. It may well be that some Android users will finally drift over to the dark side because of price and 5G capability.
But how realistic is it to believe in the Great Android Exodus? And how often do people really switch from one operating system to another?
In my regular forays to phone stores, salespeople have always insisted that switching is a relatively rare phenomenon. Once you're in a particular ecosystem, they say, shifting your mind isn't so easy.
Technology induces laziness. Operating systems induce apathy. And it's not as if there won't be many more fine (and relatively cheap) Android phones coming out in 2022.
Still, what a wonder it would be if the prediction came true. Or even half true. Just for the sheer excitement.
It almost makes one look forward to next year, doesn't it?