Any time I would listen to a tech podcast, they'd discuss Apple/its products for a majority of the time, despite OSX having less than 20% market share (and iOS having like half of Android's as well). But obviously since their products are the priciest as well as the most """prestigious""" they deserve an inordinate amount of attention and hype.
thoughts on huawei vs xiaomi?
Depends on budget. Xiaomi (and sub-brands like 'redmi' and 'poco') are much better at the low end to the midrange. Huawei's cheaper offerings aren't nearly as good, but their flagships are MASTERWORKS of phones.
That said, if you want a Chinese phone you shouldn't discount BBK either - You're more likely to know them by the sub-brands 'Oppo' or 'OnePlus'. As an all rounder I'd say the Oppo Find X 2 Pro (bad name) is the best phone out of China this year. IMO it beats out the Huawei P40 Pro just because the curved display on that one is way TOO curved. It looks amazing but it's just too annoying when you're actually holding the thing.
If you're on a budget though it's got to be the Redmi 9 - it's, and I'm not shitting you here, it's £160 and for basic use it is more than good enough.