> androids and iphones are approximately the same thing

Yet...

  Android holds 70.6% of global active devices to iOS at 28.7%, but iOS captures 64.2% of consumer app spend. [1]

> and the training is set up democratically and through universities and via multi-state funding

Possible, certainly. But this case also applies to China and its "open-weights" strategy. They won't be able to form companies either or get ahead.

▲ lightbritefight 6 hours ago | parent [-]

"Things on my phone cost more, so its clearly a better phone."

Based on the above stat, it sure seems like Androids more versatile and inexpensive for a much larger group of users.

Hmm...that sounds familiar....

	▲	ericmay 39 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Sure, but at the end of the day, Apple makes a lot more money not just on device sales but app sales too even though Android phones are allegedly more versatile and inexpensive. You can talk about open-source and cheap Chinese models all you want, but at the end of the day if American companies are making all the money that's kind of all that matters. That will feed into development and maintaining an edge.