So other than your second point (which is in part a side effect of Apple locking down their platform so much) none of those have to do with the quality of the product. And none of them address the underlying issue that you'll be paying $550 for something that will be non-functional in a few years, while headphones with comparable sound quality and capabilities can be had for cheaper.
> something that will be non-functional in a few years
If they're the pro-Apple lemming, how aren't you just the anti-Apple lemming with a statement like that?
How is this good tech discussion if, to talk about this gadget with you, someone has to work out how you were mislead to believe these things are paperweights in a few years and can't be serviced?
These topics always remind me of the Xbox vs PS2 debates my friends and I engaged on the internet at age 16. Just ridiculous claims in both directions. Funny how times never change.
I'm aware how people on this site think about products like this. Can you tell me why, despite the strong sentiment here, the product is still so popular?
While there's truth to the claim that using Apple products is a kind of signaling, strongly clapping back against all things Apple is also a kind of signaling: "yes, the easily-led masses like Apple products, but I am smarter than they are."
As someone who's been using Apple products for over two decades at this point, I obviously have my own biases, but I would argue that Apple products have historically been popular because they've historically been pretty good. Historically at premium (and sometimes outrageous) prices, not universally the best for all needs, not even universally good, and as a company Apple and their decisions are certainly not above criticism, but in general their products are good.
I'm old enough to remember when Apple was marketed as different. Because they were niche - to choose Apple was to signal that you're different from the masses.
That's still somewhat true - they do not yet dominate laptop or desktop markets, and outside the U.S. they are not (as) dominant in smartphones.
But they do dominate some of the newer product categories, just as they dominated portable music players - tablets, smartwatches.
I'm unsure how much of the headphone market they harvest.
My point of all this is that many got the pleasure of feeling unique and "smarter than the rest" by getting the novelty Apple items that most people were too ignorant to value. But it evolved over time and now maybe it's something else?
I'm in the same boat as you, although not quite 2 decades. I have even tried various Android phones for a year here and there, and always ended up back with an iPhone. So, I'm not completely blind on what's happening outside the Apple world, but their products mostly work for me and I don't really have to think about it.
Because a significant part of a product's success is marketing and the psychology underlying it. Apple are masters at marketing, and for many consumers owning Apple products is seen as a way to signal status.
A big part of Apple's brand is that things generally work. I don't need to do a ton of research on the exact pros and cons of other products, I don't have to make sure that a particular brand's model wasn't silently replaced with a cheaper version with the same SKU, that service options do exist (though expensive), and that there's a robust secondary market of Apple devices.
