Switching from iPhone to Android

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Hey, did you see the new Google event?

The Pixel 10 Pros. They look pretty

good, right? Yeah, I was watching that.

Look pretty sweet. Nice design, nice

cameras, bunch of really interesting AI

features. I'm a fan. So, you uh finally

going to get one?

>> Yeah, probably not. But you were just

saying how good they are. Yeah, but I

just I'm so used to the iPhone. I just

don't want to switch. Like I I'm used to

what I got and I'll I'll be fine, you

know? Okay. I feel like you do this

every time. What's it going to take for

you to actually switch? I I I just don't

want to switch. Like I I get that the

phones are great and I can appreciate

them. I just I'm just used to this, I

guess. All right. Name one reason why

you couldn't switch to the Pixel right

now. Okay. Uh Face ID. It's really

convenient. The Pixel has face unlock.

Okay. Uh well, I just I can't get rid of

my uh my wireless earbuds. You mean like

Pixel Buds? Uh Mag Safe. They just added

that to Pixel 10s. Uh widgets. Did I

mention widgets? Okay. You're not going

to believe this. Oh, right. Uh Apple

Intelligence.

Okay. See, now I think you're joking. Uh

I just I love the number 48 and so I

just need to have a 48 megapixel main

camera. That's the main thing cuz see I

feel like you're sort of reaching but um

these also have 48 megapixel cameras so

I just don't feel like it

it's valid.

Two years ago in the US, there was a

survey that found that only 35% of

people would be willing to switch their

phone carrier to get a better deal.

Which might not sound that crazy, but

then you think about it, that means that

65% of people, even if it meant they'd

spent less money, still wouldn't switch

phone carriers. So that is an example of

an industry with a tremendously high

perceived switching cost. like switching

carriers most people believe is too much

of a hassle, too much time and effort to

actually go through with it even if it

would save them a bit of money. And so

that allows carriers to get away with a

little bit more because people are just

not willing to switch. So anyway, the

reason I bring up switching cost is I

was watching this Google event this

week, this spectacle of an event, and

you know, besides it being a little

cringey and clearly not designed to

speak to me at all, I do think it was

really interesting how much they

directly addressed switching. So, okay,

this was an event featuring Jimmy Fallon

and the Jonas Brothers and a bunch of

other celebrity guests like Pelaton

instructors and pro athletes. So they

were talking to the massive general

audience that is normies in the US. And

what do normies in the US use? iPhones.

So this is a theme that came up several

times during the event. sometimes

directly, sometimes indirectly, but it

all drew attention to the fact that

these smartphone companies are trying to

make it as easy as possible to switch to

them and make it as hard as possible to

switch away from them. Take the new

Pixel Journal app for example. Google

just announced the Pixel 10s and one of

the new pre-installed apps on these

phones is an AI assisted journaling app.

To a lot of people, this looks like a

basic copycat of that iPhone journal app

that they just announced two years ago.

And I wouldn't blame you for thinking

that. But the other real motivation

behind making an app like this is

switching costs. See, Apple's going to

make a journal app. And they're hoping

it's good enough that people start to

use it, and a lot of people really like

it. And some fraction of people love it

so much that they would actually refuse

to use a different phone. they would

refuse to switch from an iPhone if they

couldn't get that anywhere else. So when

Google comes along and makes their

journaling app for the Pixel, they are

very directly offering an equivalent

experience on the other side of the

fence. So now someone who really likes

journaling no longer has a reason why

they couldn't switch. It turns out a

very direct response to your competitor

adding a feature or something that

potentially creates some extra lockin is

to just do the same thing on your side

of the fence in your own system. And the

more of this event that you watch with

this in mind, the more of it you very

clearly see. Like you can think of Pixel

Snap the same way, which is them adding

these G2 wireless chargers and magnets

into the back of all their Pixel 10

phones. And I always thought that this

would be in more phones. Like I always

was shocked that there weren't more

phones with G2, especially because when

you listen to iPhone people talk about

MagSafe, they love it. Like people

almost refuse to buy phones that don't

have MagSafe now. See the comments of

the iPhone 16 review. But there are some

small limitations of the official CH2

support. The big one really was that it

doesn't support the fastest charging

speeds. So it's 15 to 25 watts with the

latest edition. Not disastrously slow,

but it does make sense why some of the

other manufacturers like OPPO or OnePlus

or Huawei wouldn't adopt it. They'd

rather continue developing and leaning

on their SuperV and Dash charging, which

is super fast. It's one of their selling

points with like 80 100 watt wireless

charging. Great. Here with the Pixel

though, it actually makes perfect sense

because they've never had the biggest

numbers or the fastest charging speeds.

The Pixel 9 only charged, I think, 12

watts on a chi charger. So 15 to 25 is a

big upgrade actually for wireless

charging speeds. And now you get these

magnets. You essentially added MagSafe

to your phones with no downside. And

yes, they have done more work with the

array and the strength of the magnets

and making their own accessories that

attach really firmly to the back of the

phone. So all that extra work is sick.

But if you zoom out enough, Mags Safe

was a reason people would resist

switching from an iPhone to a Pixel.

And now it's not. So so many of the

times that it looks like these companies

are just copying each other. Yeah, you

got to keep in mind that minimizing

switching costs is a huge motivator to a

lot of this stuff. They used to be in a

battle for new customers, but there's

just so much less of that now. Like most

of the world already has a smartphone.

So the real battle now is actually two

things. It's kids and people getting

their first smartphone because once you

get your first smartphone, you're likely

to stick with that for a long time. and

then switchers. Now, the last thing is

you can't talk about switching cost in

the US and normies in the US without

talking about the biggest obstacle that

Apple has set up, which is iMessage

lockin. I've talked about this before

and like every time I bring it up, a lot

of you guys who are not in the US are

like, "This seems like the dumbest thing

ever because that pressure does not

exist outside of this place." But here,

blue bubble pressure is so real. But

Google did specifically try to talk

about this in their event, too. and this

is how they decided to tackle it.

>> So, we realized the idea of switching

your phone brand can seem scary. It can

even maybe be a little bit daunting. And

so, we've talked about and have tackled

the top two concerns that people have

when it comes to switching.

>> So, we can stop talking about the green

text versus the blue text or the

>> Yes. And first of all, I'm going to say

personally the green blue bubble battle

is silly and it's tired and at Google

we're done with that conversation.

>> Yeah.

>> Uh yeah, I wasn't there so I can't

confirm this but Andrew Edwards did say

that they were showing applause signs to

the audience who were there in person.

Hm. Look, obviously if it was up to

Apple, they never would have adopted RCS

and they would love to keep their

features as exclusive as possible in

their little bubble. And then if you

want to switch, you're leaving all these

features behind. But now that Google's

poking holes in that with

interoperability and RCS, it's a little

bit less of a bubble. I did make an

entire video on blue bubbles versus

green bubbles and that whole dynamic.

So, if you want to watch that, I'll link

it right here or down below the like

button. But don't think Apple's never

tried this stuff either. Apple would

love to entice Android users to come to

their side of the fence. From the move

to iOS app that they built and put in

the Play Store to the ad campaigns that

they've run over the years, the newest

Apple Intelligence feature that looks

and acts a lot like that hit Circle to

search feature on Android. All this

stuff runs both ways. It's all in the

name of competition. Something to think

about. Anyway, stay tuned for the full

Pixel 10 series phone reviews. And also,

the iPhones are right around the corner.

It's about to be TechTember. There's a

lot of interesting stuff in the

pipeline. Thanks for watching. Thanks

for subscribing. Catch you very soon in

the next one. Peace.

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