It is a US company, that likely helps a little. They are expensive. In many countries 55% could not afford them. Easy access to Apple stores to fix issues is a massive advantage.

Anecdotally, my friends and family that have switched have done so because of malware. Apple is far from perfect, but Google has done a terrible job of keeping bad apps out of the Play store. And malicious software has other ways of getting installed. My sister was a diehard Samsung user, but reluctantly bought an iPhone when she started getting porn pop ups and her and none of her friends could figure out how to stop them.

Saying that, when looking for documented statistics, they don't match up with the article.

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/united-states-of-america