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seanismorris said:

jdw said:

The continued presence of the "notch" coupled with what consumers perceive as the biggest bang for the buck is no doubt driving this.

I don’t think the notch is that big a deal, but price is.  

Also, IPhone have been better at security but Cellebrite can crack both iPhones and Android. (Bad guys can buy them on eBay)

Apple has the better App Store, but the gap has narrowed.

I think people look at what’s available and conclude Android is the better value.  Personally, I don’t use Apple services to a great extent so migrating isn’t that big a deal.  I’m fine with my 6s until it dies and don’t see a reason to buy ultra premium.

I, like most people, will look at what givens the most bang for the buck.  Apple is pushing things like AR and the camera, which aren’t that important.  Security, build quality are things I care about...

Agree & I’d add that many people don’t care about the privacy of there personal information anymore.
20 years ago, the idea of letting a company look at all your mail, calendar appointments, trips using a map to target you for junk ads would be considered nuts. 
But today millions are fine if Google or Amazon do it.
Millions are even fine with a company using a microphone/speaker listening in on personal conversations throughout their house! Again for targeted ads. 

* One of Apple’s big features is privacy. But their hardware cost has to pay for that.
- A lot of people say; ‘screw privacy! I can get this Android phone $300 cheaper.’ ‘I can get these $50 speakers to put all over my house which answer my questions & allow me to buy things from Amazon.’
- When features are “good enough” for the average user, price is the deciding factor.  

Worst Ive designs? (Imo)
1. Hockey puck mouse; Used it once, put it away & switched to Logitech. 
2. Mighty Mouse (with the nub which got clogged) eventually switched to Logitech.
3. Apple Pencil #1 charging on the go by sticking it into the iPad charging port. Awkward.
4. G4 Cube; fragile, waste of space, in the shape of a tower but more like a Mac Mini 

tht said:

bloggerblog said:

My work's Mid 2015 MacBook Pro's battery swelled up and caused a bulge at the bottom. Checked the SN it's not part of Apple's battery replacement program.
Hope it won't catch on fire.

Uh, it’s better for you to pay for a battery change versus living with the potential of the battery further ruining other components, like the trackpad, or not providing enough power.

Absolutely. Not all computer repairs are free. 
Years ago I paid to have a swollen MacBook battery replaced. 
In my company we routinely replaced/repaired items which could cause injury.
When a danger to safety is possibly involved & there is no warranty, imo it is better to pay for the repair/replacement of personal or company property.

ireland said:

Apple made it a point to tell users that the new MacBook Pro has a material change, and has a more reliable keyboard

A bit generous, no? Failed design and embarrassment, this keyboard is. It’s like with the iPhone 4, there was nothing wrong with the antenna, but 4s had a new antenna with another band to stop the non-problem.

Bringing up the iPhone 4 is a poor example & a straw-man. As Apple explained at the time the attenna had a similar performance compared with other phones by other manufacturers.
Independent information to back this up;

“1. Hold The Phone Such That You Do Not Block Its Internal Antenna.

What if we told you that you’re simply holding your phone the wrong way? Gert Pedersen is a Professor at Aalborg University, and his research has shown that when you switch your mobile phone from one hand to the opposite hand, it can improve or worsen the signal. This occurs because built-in internal antenna of cell phones get blocked when using the right or left hand depending on the phone model. Therefore switch the hand holding the phone to your other hand, which could improve cell signal dramatically. Try it now to see the difference!”

https://www.signalbooster.com/blogs/news/10-easy-tips-to-boost-your-cell-phone-signal-now

All personal computing devices have a rate of failure. This is why computer repair has existed since the dawn of the PC.
To determine whether a product is inferior, depends on its rating by customers compared with the competition.  

- Apple has some of the highest rated smartphones. 

http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-full-service-smartphone-satisfaction-study

- Apple has some of the highest rated laptops/desktops. 

http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=147&catid=&Itemid=212&i=Personal+Computers

- It is trivial to avoid Apple data collection for ads in the News app. 
I don’t use it. 
- With the App Store, I accept that there will be targeted ads for my searches. But that is a minimal intrusion. 
I don’t use Google search (instead use DuckDuckGo).
It is easy to limit ad tracking in iOS for its main services.

* Compare that to Android/Google services where the economics are based on tracking the users through unique identifiers & targeting ads. 

* Typical Android phones are directing users to Google services. Google’s mines data from “free” services like Gmail, Chrome, Google Maps & Google Drive for ads. As a result Google makes most of its money from ads based on massive data mining. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/020515/business-google.asp ;

https://bgr.com/2016/02/11/why-facebook-and-google-mine-your-data-and-why-theres-nothing-you-can-do-to-stop-it/ ;

* Apple by contrast makes most of its money from hardware sales especially from the iPhone. 

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/08/how-apple-inc-makes-most-of-its-money.aspx

(Apple has minor ad revenue with their News app & App Store searches which is small compared with massive data mining which produces most of Google’s revenue.)