Which is better, iPhone or Android better?
What do you prefer, Android or Apple or both? Well, around 70% may have said Android whilst 27% may have said Apple. Personally, I prefer Apple to be superior to Android. Everyone has different needs, me being a teen, I use more texting apps than a nine year old. And me being a kid, I may care about aesthetics more than an average adult. And due to these reasons, I and many other teens and young adults like me pick the iPhone. Precisely, 70% use Apple in this particular age group.
If one wants more versatility and customisability and if one wants more RAM and better photos then I would recommend he/she most likely go for an Android like the Vivo, Pixel or Samsung. But this is so much more complicated than that.
Let’s start with the software. At the beginning of phones, software was the least of the manufacturer’s concerns, they only and only cared about the hardware, the sort of buttons and the touch and feel of those buttons. But after the iPhone was unveiled we all learnt that whilst the hardware was very important the software was the main component of what makes a good device. Now let’s say you are new to smartphones and you just want something easy to understand and use, thanks to Apple’s simplicity and easy-to-use software, it helps new users like yourself, understand the software better. But if I bought a Samsung for my grandma and I told her to try and add a lock-screen widget, she would definitely be more likely to understand the iPhone. In terms of the aesthetics of the software in general, the iPhone obviously takes the lead. The software is very easy on your eyes, but then again there are few Android phones, like the Pixel, which are almost as pleasing to look at. But another way of looking at this is that Android gives you the sort of customisability that you won’t get on IOS anytime soon. Like the customisable launchers on most Androids, or the customisable icons and theme of the device.
Another perspective is that the Apple app store has way more apps than Android. Because developers prefer making apps for Apple devices to Android, and that’s because they only have to optimise their apps for only a handful of Apple devices compared to Android, with thousands of devices. Another thing with Apple is that Apple has a few small features that are very important to most consumers whilst Android has many features that are important to only a handful of people. Like Apple’s airdrop, share-play, iMessage and facetime or Android’s air-view, smart pause and many more. So which one is doing better here? And lastly, the software support on Apple is 5 years and the closest competitor is Samsung with 4 years. Software support is how old devices can support the latest software, and this just means you can use your newly bought iPhone for another 5 years. So Apple wins here as well. But it all really depends on what you prefer!
Now let’s talk about the performance. Now clearly Iphone takes the lead on this one, because each time the iPhone is ahead of most of Androids. Like the budget iPhone, the iPhone SE, in 2020 compared to the flagship Samsung phone, galaxy s20 ultra, still performed better compared to the flagship! Fragmentation is to blame for this because chip manufacturers for Android devices like Qualcomm build chips that are “one size fits all” and capable of running thousands of different Android phones. And compare this to Apple, which makes its own chips for only 4 of its own devices. This gives Apple an advantage because this allows them to make the perfect custom chips and hardware for their phones. This perfect combination of software, hardware and chips goes to making one of the perfect phones with one of the best performances. Whilst Samsung and many other phones are not on the same page as Google, the software manufacturer, or as Qualcomm, the chipset manufacturer. The only thing most Android operating devices can control is the hardware they make for their phone.
There is another factor to a good phone, the battery. Now, on paper, Android’s flagship’s battery seems to be better than the ones in Iphones. But tests show that iPhones last for an incredible amount of time compared to Android flagships. But with an Android, you will still get one of the best batteries in the market. There is also another aspect of looking at batteries, how quickly it charges. This is where the tides turn, as Android has super-fast charging whilst iPhones have decent charging. So, to decide on a battery it is best to see which is more important for you!
Now, let’s look at this in terms of privacy. We’re spending so much time on our smartphones nowadays, messaging, making purchases, looking for local barbershops and so on. All that makes the security of our phones paramount when it comes to privacy. And this one is a bit hard, because while, yes you can modify Android OS so it is more private and secure, and whilst it is harder to do that on an Apple phone, Apple phones right out of the box are more secure than Android phones. It is proven that Google collects more than 20 times more data than an average IOS device. And yes, whilst there are Android-based OSs that are specifically made with privacy and security in mind, they are rare. Apple is just way more secure when it comes to the consumer’s data compared to Google.
Lastly, let’s talk about the options and pricing of the phones. Now, if it wasn’t obvious, Android is the number one operating system if you want to switch from a device from one brand to another. For example, currently, I am using Xiaomi, but now I want to switch to Samsung. Versus, I am using an iPhone and now I want to use Samsung. See not the same. Plus, if I want a smartphone that is more suited to my needs without selling my kidney, I know there will always be a phone like that in the Android ecosystem. Since we are talking about pricing, Samsung seems like the obvious winner here, butttt… The Android flagship starting price was $1,855.75, versus the Apple flagship phone, which starts at $1,899.00. Now if you compare these two prices it’s not much of a difference. But then again the Android ecosystem has way more options. So at the end of the day, it really comes down to what phone’s software and performance you like better.
In conclusion, the type and brand of phone you want really just comes down to what you like. So, if you want a secure, simple, aesthetic, the longest-lasting battery in any phone yet and high-performance, Apple is definitely the way to go. Or, if you want a more customisable, awesome charging, affordable and something with more options to choose from, an Android is the phone for you. So now, what do you prefer, an Android or an Apple phone or just both?
