European iPhones are more fun now

Whining about stuff is a treasured American pastime, so permit me to indulge: the iPhone is extra enjoyable in Europe now, and it’s not truthful.

They’re getting all types of stuff as a result of they’ve cool regulators, not like, common regulators. Third-party app shops, the flexibility for browsers to run their very own engines, Fortnite, and now the flexibility to interchange plenty of default apps? I need it, too! Think about if Chrome on iOS wasn’t only a rinky dink little Safari emulator! Think about downloading a brand new dialer app with a soundboard of fart sounds and setting it as your default! Sadly, Apple doesn’t appear enthusiastic about sharing these potentialities with everybody.

However exterior of emulators and its begrudging adoption of RCS, Apple solely appears enthusiastic about doing the naked minimal to maintain regulators off its again. It’s beginning to seem like the corporate sells two totally different iPhones: one for individuals in Europe, and one that everybody else should buy. That’s bizarre, particularly since maintaining issues easy and constant is type of Apple’s factor. However the firm is so dedicated to maintaining the 2 separate that it gained’t even allow you to replace apps from third-party app shops when you go away the EU for greater than a month.

Right here’s the factor: wouldn’t it simply be good enterprise to supply everybody the identical selections irrespective of the place they stay? It’s not as if Apple was making two totally different iPhones to attempt to enchantment to totally different cultural preferences. It’s making one iPhone that’s extra versatile and customizable, and one which isn’t.

Perhaps, little by little, Apple will collapse and supply parity the way in which it did with emulators. However assume the corporate ought to make an uncharacteristic transfer: drop the charade and let everybody, in all places have the identical iPhone. It could be daring! Brave, even! However most significantly, it could be much more enjoyable.