Some of the people in this thread are just plain jerks.
Can we all just simmer down a little bit? I've had countless discussions about this subject, and what it boils down to is usually this.
iPhone and Apple Device users use them because they like them.
They would usually rather not bother with the kind of customization and tweaking you can do on other platforms, like Android or Windows because they think what they have is already good enough, and they understand it for the most part.
The reason they are so popular is because, at the end of the day, life isn't just about personal computing, and apple gets this (usually). They don't revolutionize
anything. They just make a good product that happens to get the job done in a way that isn't so complex that the average person can't understand it. And that's just fine.
There's also something to be said for the security of a closed platform, etc.
Android and Windows/PC users use them because it suits their needs, and in areas where it doesn't, can often be tweaked to suit their needs better- and they often don't mind putting some effort in if it means getting more output from that effort in the long run. There's a lot more you can do to suit your preferences, needs, and desires if you put the time and effort on. To me, that makes it more human an experience, which is why I prefer it myself. (personally)
Man, I could not possibly love my iPhone 6S any more than I already do. It isn't constantly losing apps to OS fragmentation, I'm not getting mysterious ads in my notification bar from shitty apps, I know my data is secure, and I don't have to worry about exploding batteries. Frankly, I don't understand why such granular customization is of so much value to people.
Apple gets hate because it's the most popular, most successful capitalist enterprise on the face of the earth- and in a true Utopia, not every kind of person can be invited.
Some utopia, people being forced out of the "perfect society" over something as trivial as a mobile device preference.