you don't have to buy in to the eco system. i just found that apple products fit my needs better. you can still use any earbuds or anything else you want to. you can still use the google system as you please. you're not forced to using only apple apps. i regularly use google maps, gmail, google calndar, waze, and a lot of other apps that aren't specific to ios. i was a die hard android fan my whole life but apple was simple and everything worked well. i'm sure there are plenty of good android phones around these days too.