- Gen Z accounts for 34 percent of iPhone users and just 10 percent of Samsung users, according to data reported by Financial Times.
- One 23-year-old says she makes more plans "face-to-face" instead of over text since most of her friends have an iPhone.
From green text bubbles to separate group chats, Gen Z Android users have heard it all from peers who own iPhones — and the jokes aren't always that funny.
In a report based on data from adtech company Attain, Financial Times revealed Gen Z, those born from 1997 on, makes up only 10% of US Samsung owners, but the age group makes up a third of all iPhone users in the US.
Two Android phone users in their twenties told Insider that because of the wide disparity, they face challenges as minorities in the digital world.
Kelsi Carrier, a 23-year-old recent college graduate said she's never owned an iPhone. As a result, she faced criticism and questions from her peers during her time in school.
"Having any Apple product seems to be considered a luxury, and I don't really understand that," Carrier said. "People would come to me asking why I don't have an iPhone and making rude comments about my Samsung, but it does everything their phone does."
The only difference, Carrier told Insider, is the inability to FaceTime, but there are other features, like Google Duo, that she said she uses in its place. However, issues with being the only one with an Android phone still affect Carrier's friendships.
"There's a separation factor because my friends often say they have to make a separate group chat with me included since I'm the only one who uses Android," she told Insider. "I end up learning about a lot of plans in face-to-face conversations rather than text."
A blog post on Android's official site asserts that the texting issues come from Apple's "outdated tech" used to contact those who don't own an iPhone.
Santiago Gaughan, a 21-year-old college student in Houston told Insider he always took comments urging him to replace his Android with an iPhone as jokes and feels "no pressure at all" to make the switch.
However, one Twitter user suggested phone choice could be stopping men from getting dates with women.
—Ra’s al Gore (@jawn_117) February 22, 2023
Gaughan said he keeps most of his conversations on "an equal playing field" by using apps like Whatsapp and Twitter to chat with friends.
In an informal Instagram poll of users under 25 years old, only three of 51 respondents said they currently own an Android phone while 37 respondents said they own an iPhone and would never consider switching to Android.
iPhone user Genesis Avila, 23, said the stigma against non-iPhones started off as a middle school joke that just never went away. According to Avila, Android users were seen as "poor or a loser," and the mentality gained popularity online.
"Even if Androids are the better phone, that stigma would never make me get one," Avila told Insider.