Smartphones have evolved over time to become the most personal items in our lives. We carry them with us always, interact on social media, catch our favorite moments and do virtually everything with these devices.
Statista reports that people spend an average of six hours on their mobile phones for leisure purposes. This number is bound to increase If we add work-related usage.
Millions of phones are manufactured and distributed yearly and about 7.10 Billion people around the world use smartphones, making up 89.90% of the world’s population.
According to CNBC, more than 70% of internet users access the internet with their smartphones.
Statista on the other hand covers more detailed data to back this claim up.
Despite the huge market space in the mobile world, there are only two major players here; Android and iPhone made by Google and Apple respectively.
Android and iPhone are the most prevalent choices today if you want to buy a new phone today. Other platforms are almost irrelevant and not recognized in this space.
Each of these platforms comes packed with unique features.
The goal of this article is to help you find which would be better for you, either for your business or personal use.
Let’s dive into this article by comparing their features, highlighting each platform’s uniqueness.
What can iPhones do better than Android?
Elegant Performance:
iPhones shine well when it comes to performance.
iPhones are well known for their smoothness and all-round exquisite performance than a myriad of Android phones within the same range.
This is large because of the quintessential integration between the software and hardware of the platform.
Apple controls the manufacturing process to ensure high integration between the iOs operating and the hardware.
Qualcomm’s processors are considered one of the best in the Mobile manufacturing market. However, some tests and investigations have been able to come up with facts backing up iPhones processors to be faster than Qualcomm’s processors.
Whereas Android is open source and can be installed by any manufacturer.
There’s no standard in this space. Android is left when it comes to this space.
Google on one hand is trying to set some standards in the Android world by launching their Google pixel flagship smartphones. Despite these efforts by Google, iPhones still perform better than Android generally.
Easy and Simple User Interface:
iPhones have very simple and beautiful user interfaces. It is preferable to have a user interface that is intuitive and helps you perform your task with the least possible amount of clicks and effort.
Apple also provides guidelines and APIs to enable iOs developers that offer a great user experience and are consistent with Apple’s user interface design goals.
This is definitely an edge iPhones have over their Android counterparts.
High standard Security:
iPhone security standard is not a walk in the park when compared to what can be found on Android.
iPhones, as well as other Apple smart devices, are well tied in the iCloud, iMessage to offer seamless data backup and synchronization.
All these coupled with the timely updates always being released by Apple, ensures that users get the latest update in security patches and improvements.
Android in this aspect is more relaxed. Google’s Android team lead once revealed in an interview that Google can not guarantee that Android was designed for security.
What can Android do better than iPhones?
Affordability:
You can never expect to find a cheap iPhone.
Android phones are more affordable than iPhones, hands down.
There’s a phone for every budget with Android. You can spend as much as $2,000 for Android phones if you are going for Android phones such as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G, or as low as $100, depending on the brand you go for.
Android wins here as it offers you more options when it comes to pricing.
Variety of Applications to Choose From:
There are about 2.7 million Android apps published on the Google play store whereas it’s only 1.82 million for the Apple app store.
This means that for every category of app you want to download in Android, you’d find a host of varieties on Google play store than on the app store.
This offers you the opportunity to find the kind of apps you like and fine-tune your experience the way you like.
Customization:
Apple’s user interface is simple and straightforward but does not support great customization features.
Android platforms afford you the opportunity to create the kind of user interfaces you desire through the use of widgets.
You can install launchers and tweak the user interface to match your own uniqueness.
Not just the Ui can be customized on Android. The media volume, file system, and multiple window support is more flexible here.
Variety of Hardware choices:
As mentioned before, Android phones are made by a lot of manufacturers and this offers you the chance to choose the hardware you’re more comfortable with.
This is not the case with iPhones as they are made by just one manufacturer, so everyone has to put up with whatever they offer.
Android manufacturers make phones that cater to a wide range of audiences. Android platform is built such that you can find whatever you’re looking for. No wonder it has more market share.
Expandable Memory:
Most Android phones come with expandables while iPhones do not support this feature.
Android phone’s memory can be extended with the use of an Sd card, unlike their Android counterparts, However there are arguments that sd cards make Android phones much slower, but that is a topic for another day.
There are moments where more storage space is needed. This is one of the areas where Android shines more than iPhones.
Repair and Maintenance:
In case you have not noticed by now, Android phones are easier to maintain. Because Android phones are made by various manufacturers, there are more care centers and repair workspaces.
Artificial Intelligence and Personal assistant:
Google assistant beats iPhone Siri here by a fair margin when it comes to intelligent assistance,
Google Assistant integrates with your apps and data to help make your life easier. It’s intuitive and easy to use with a high dose of accuracy and effectiveness.
Aspects where Android and iPhone match each other
Camera Quality:
Some people would rather die than accept that some Android phones have some good cameras. The issue of whether the iPhone has a better camera than the Android depends on the device you are comparing.
A detailed guide composed comparison between iPhone 11 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ gives us an insight suggesting that Android and iPhones have almost the same camera quality depending on the device being compared.
Battery Quality:
Both phones can last longer depending on the device being compared and usage. This article provides more insight into how these two platforms work.
GPS Navigation:
Google maps and Apple maps are well built to serve drivers’ navigation seeking. To put it succinctly, there’s no comparison here because the two platforms offer a great service when it comes to GPS serving and navigation control. Besides, Google maps are also available for iOS while it comes pre-installed on Android devices.
Should you go for an Android or apple?
To answer this question effectively, let’s answer a few questions to help you make up your mind.
What is your Budget?
As already established, iPhones are generally more expensive than Android phones.
Here, you need to be able to determine how much you are willing to spend on a phone item.
If your budget is low, then Android would be a better choice for you as you can choose from a myriad of devices that Android offers.
It is well known that Apple offers premium services with the apps on their platforms. In this case, you’d have to pay for streaming music, movies, and tv shows, and a myriad of other services.
Therefore, if you are not willing to pay to enjoy some of these services, then sticking with Android is a better choice as you can get almost all these services for free on the Android platform.
What is the main purpose for purchase?
The purpose of use could help you determine what platform to go for. If you’re a more relaxed user and want to experience your phone for different purposes such as playing games and consuming media copiously, then you should go for Android as it can offer you more flexibility in the choice of apps and games.
However, if your usage is strictly business, then iPhone might make more sense since it has a much smoother performance than Android.
Do you care more about Flexibility or Simplicity?
How much can you customize your phone and apps? While the iPhone has a more simple and straightforward user interface, it does support little or no tweaking and customization. Whereas,
Android on the other hand allows you to customize your phone such that it suits your needs.
Where do you live?
Of course, this matters. If you live outside the United States of America(USA) and the Uk, accessing phone repair and support services for your iPhone device could be tough.
In this case, choosing Android would make more sense, since you can have more access to phone repair and maintenance in your locality.
Conclusion
Never be caught up in “paralysis by analysis”. The best device for you is one you can afford, and maintain without hassle. I can assure you that some of these things are not as bad as they sound. The differences are sometimes so tiny that you would not even notice.
However, We expect the gap between these two platforms to become even tinier as these two players continue to catch up with each other.
It would also be nice to have more players join in this space to bring more innovations to the mobile space.
When would that be? I have no one to ask.
With that, we come to the end of this post and I hope you were able to pick a few things to help you make up your mind on which device to buy next.
