Why Apple doesn't talk about competitors - YouTube

Have you ever noticed that Apple basically never talks about the products of their competitors?

Not on their website, not on their launch events, not in their ads, basically nowhere.

So in the 42nd episode of The Story Behind series, let's explore why.

With a little bit of help from Arun, whose channel you should probably subscribe to.

This video was sponsored by Skillshare.

The first 500 viewers to sign up using the link in the description will get 2 months

of premium access for free.

Comparing yourself to your competitors and pointing out where you are better than them

is probably the most straightforward advertisement strategy out there.

I'm sure you've seen ads from Samsung making fun of the Apple notch and the removal of

the headphone jack for example, and launch events of most tech companies are often just

them comparing their products to the competition.

Seems pretty straightforward.

You tell people why your stuff is better than the competition and that should convince them to buy

your stuff, right?

And yet, Apple, who knows a thing or two about marketing, basically never does this.

They did it in the past, with their famously aggressive Windows vs Mac ad campaign for

years for example, but those days are long gone.

If they make a comparison, it's either to an older Apple product, to show progress over

time, or to a device from a different category like comparing iPhone cameras to professional

digital cameras, for example.

The way they sometimes seem to refuse to acknowledge even the existence of

but for them I think it makes a lot of business sense.

OK, so comparisons like this, if you think about it, they really do 2 things.

irst they tells you that one thing is better than the other, but second, they

But more importantly for this video is that they create a sort of association.

They put two products on kind of the same level and they tell you that these two products are comparable

And you as a consumer will probably want to make a decision, a choice between these two.

If they weren't comparable and kind of on the same level, this comparison wouldn't really make sense, right?

Otherwise comparisons would be meaningless.

And if you know Apple, you know that making you think that there are comparable substitutes

to the sacred iPhone or the Mac or an Apple Watch is the last thing Apple wants.

They don’t want you to think "which Phone should I buy", they want you to think

" which iPhone should I buy".

Your choices should be made within the Apple ecosystem.

And given how rare it is for Apple users to switch away from Apple to something else,

So Apple doesn't want these comparisons,

but other companies certainly do.

Let me switch to Arun and he'll give you some details.

What’s up guys, my name is Arun, from the Mrwhosetheboss Channel, and you might have noticed

that Android phone makers LOVE to compare, and specifically to the iPhone.

Samsung shows off the fact that it’s phones have a broad set of features,

Huawei likes to show off one or two exceptional specs, like its 40MP camera sensor,

or its 3 times optical zoom.

And this makes complete sense for them.

Not only do these devices devices stack up well on paper vs Apples, but by putting themselves

on the same page as them, they are free-riding off Apple's brand power.

Apple invests so much in making their products seem magical and otherworldly, that when

Huawei comes out and tells people that their flagship is the same but better, and also

cheaper, it’s a powerful message.

That's right.

Android phone makers do these comparisons in part because they want to have

the associations that Apple would rather not have.

But notice also that they, they don't just compare themselves to anyone.

Samsung only ever mocks Apple and they mostly pretend like Huawei, LG and the others don't exist.

They want you to think their phones are comparable to the latest iPhones, not one of those of

other Android phones.

And it's a similar picture for other companies too.

The other reason why Apple might be avoiding comparisons is that comparisons

only really work if you have a seemingly obvious advantage over your competitors.

Remember, that advantage doesn't have to be 100% truthful, but it has to appear to be obvious.

Back in the Windows vs Mac commercial days it was easy for Apple to make fun of Windows

for being a magnet for viruses and getting stuck or having to reboot often, but these

days the results of that same comparison would be a lot less obvious.

Random errors for example just aren't a super frequent problem on Windows anymore these days,

so that comparison wouldn't be super exciting,

and also, comparing iPhones to Android phones would often lead to problems for Apple.

Here’s why.

If you look at the spec sheet of an iPhone and an equivalent Android phone,

to a lot of people it will look like these are devices from a different generation.

On paper and in an ad, these comparisons would not be in the favor of the iPhone.

The iPhone XS Max has a 12MP camera vs 40, 4GB RAM vs 8, and 30% fewer pixels on its display

than the Mate 20 Pro. And yet, most people would agree that the Huawei does not have a camera

that’s 3 times better, it is NOT necessarily a faster phone, and it definitely doesn't have a better display.

So avoiding these comparisons helps Apple stay out of the spec race.

It allows them to focus on the things that actually make the phone experience better,

as opposed to also adding in a whole bunch of other stuff just to grab the headlines.

And you end up with a phone that is a more efficiently planned, and one that costs less to make.

One that DOESN’T have 12GB RAM because that makes it sound powerful, or a 4K display that

an average consumer can’t come close to discerning.

All this translates to lower hardware costs, and more profit for Apple.

This all just goes so perfectly hand in hand with Apple's philosophy where they think they know better

what's good for you from a product than you know yourself.

It's like Apple is saying "Shh, shh, shh, forget about those other companies,

they are just throwing around meaningless metrics like RAM and pixel counts.

All you need to know is that the new iPhone is faster and has a better camera

than the other one and it comes in a cool new color.

Now pay us a lot of money."

And despite recent slowdowns, that has clearly been a very profitable message so far.

Now, it's important to point out that Apple is probably one of the only major tech companies

who can afford to avoid external comparisons like that for a couple of reasons.

First, their products are actually pretty unique with their own operating systems and

often even custom chips powering them, making comparisons less meaningful, they have a fanbase

that is fiercely loyal and happy to ignore the competition, and they have the cultural

significance where basically everyone understands an Apples to Apples comparison.

So to a lot of people, Apple saying their newer iPhone is faster and has a better camera

than their previous models is probably enough information to decide if they should buy the

thing or not.

Whereas Android phone and Windows PC makers have to fight on specs

and they have to play the comparison game, otherwise how else would they convince you to buy their

stuff over that of their competitors?

Anyway, thanks to Arun for his insights and thanks to Skillshare

for offering the first 500 of you 2 months of premium access for free.

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