In recent years, many tech companies such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung have struggled to maintain their success in their phone market. On the other hand, Apple has risen through the ranks and destroying all competition, and now is the second most valuable company worldwide (just behind Microsoft.) This may seem strange to people since in contrast to the strategies of other tech companies, creating innovative and “never seen before” products, Apple has been making seemingly the same phone every year with truly little difference. At first glance, it would be very hard to tell apart the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 without thoroughly testing its features. Regardless, people still buy every new iPhone that comes out no matter the price. This reflects Apple’s success and how they’ve managed to make the iPhone the most accepted smartphone in modern society. 
When looking at any of the recently released iPhones, you begin to see a reoccurring trend with their designs. Every iPhone released beginning from iPhone 11 has had a few key similarities, including the 3-lens camera on the back, the small black notch located on the top of the screen, and smooth metallic edges. Naturally, they have gotten slightly better software updates with each release, but are the changes worth getting a new phone for? This is a question many people ask, especially considering the high prices of the models. The last 3 generations released by Apple all have the same price of $800. This is significantly more expensive than other brands like Huawei, or Xiaomi, which are companies that have a comparably higher amount of diversity in their products. But this fact is surprisingly one of the reasons that Apple has had this amount of popularity. An iPhone is easily recognized from a distance by anyone. And Apple wants precisely that. What matters is that it is an iPhone, regardless of whether it is an iPhone 14 or 15. It's an Apple-made phone. This tactic aids Apple in preserving its distinctive brand identity. Due to this, people can easily tell when a celebrity or an influencer they’re fond of owns an iPhone, and therefore are driven into buying the same phone themselves. What also contributes to the popularity of iPhones is its price. Its high prices have made Apple a rather luxurious brand. Owning an iPhone can express personal wealth and high-class status.  
Another factor that aids in the massive success of Apples sales, is social media,and specifically, messaging apps. Anyone owning an Android device has most likely experienced difficulties sending videos and photos using applications such as Instagram, Snapchat, or other messaging services. When using the built-in camera option in these apps, Android users have encountered a lot of problems regarding the lack of quality in their pictures, no matter how good their actual camera is. The actual cause of this problem is the large number of Android smartphones that are released each year. In terms of Android smartphones released in 2019, there are over 1500 models available. They all have various hardware specifications and screen sizes, or aspect ratios. Therefore, it is very difficult for app developers to optimize their applications to suit every single device when it comes to hardware and software specs. In contrast to this, Apple products appear to have excellent camera quality. This is because creating an iPhone app is much simpler.  Developers just need to take a few Apple products into account. Unlike Android, which is used as an operating system by many different companies, iOS is only used by Apple products. The extreme difference in quality has created the illusion that Android phones have poor cameras. This encourages many people to buy the iPhone instead of other phone brands. 
Something many iOS users have noticed is the eventual decrease in the performance of their devices. While many people would guess that it’s simply an effect of owning an older generation, this is not the case. Unfortunately, Apple has been found to be guilty of eventually slowing down the older generations of iPhones on purpose. Released in January of 2017 as a software update, an undocumented battery management system slowed down the performance of older iPhones to prevent them from shutting down unexpectedly. However, Apple failed to notify customers that their phones were being purposefully "throttled" and did not offer them the chance to turn off the setting. Instead, Apple deceived consumers and even in certain cases was accused of slowing down customer smartphones by up to 58%. The quick deterioration in performance causes many iPhone users to feel the need to buy every new model that comes out no matter the price. 
In conclusion, people buy iPhones as they are represented as a luxurious brand, have better camera quality compared to Android, and because iPhones experience decrease in performance regularly. All these factors contribute to Apple’s massive success regarding the iPhone and other iOS devices. Although iPhones come with a number of appealing features, other manufactures can provide a wider range of customization possibilities, a wider variety of hardware options, and possibly better value for their money. In the end, customers gain from the wide variety of options available, which enables them to find the ideal fit for their unique needs, tastes, and priorities in a quickly changing digital market, whether they decide to purchase an iPhone or look into alternatives.