Welcome back to Tech Talk for our latest edition of Lucy Broadbent’s wrap of the news. From Android vs Apple to the Rise of MovieTok and a truly bizarre tech story, Lucy – author of What Would Ted Lasso Do? brings you up to speed on the week in tech.
‘You’re kidding me. You’re using a ‘Droid?’ A recent survey of teens in the United States found that 87% have iPhones and would not be seen dead with an Android phone. Why?
Many teens associate Android phones with both older technology and older people, according to The Wall Street Journal. That’s a stigma that’s proving tricky for Android phones to get past. It explains why Samsung are aiming their Galaxy Z Flip 5, which can be propped up at a 90-degree angle for selfies, at teens in their marketing efforts.
But the Android story is a complicated one: the teen aversion to Android seems to be a uniquely US phenomenon. In the US, Apple has 57% of the phone market, and Android, 42% according to the web traffic analysis site Statcounter. Those stats skew to an 87% Apple hold on the market when it comes to teens. But that changes around the rest of the world where Androids represent the significant majority of all smartphones. What does that say about the American teen? You can draw your own conclusions.
The rise of MovieTok is making news across the US, introducing a new generation of voices on a strand of TikTok, who refuse to be called film critics, although that would seem to be just what they are. “On MovieTok, reviewers can reach an audience of millions and earn tens of thousands of dollars per post,” according to The New York Times. Critics, it seems, are old news.
TikTok personalities like Straw Hat Goofy and Cinema.Joe will review, analyze and promote movies, often arguing that they are combating film snobbery with their more populist approach. They don’t think of themselves as critics, rather, influencers with a niche. Either way, their views are so widely listened to that the Hollywood studios are now sponsoring them. Conflict of interest, anyone?
Most bizarre story of the week seems to only confirm that Elon Musk is losing it. X users noticed that some links to certain websites like the New York Times, Washington Post, Blue Sky and Threads had a five-second delay. What do the affected sites have in common? Elon Musk has made it plain he doesn’t like them!
