Android VS iOS | A Never Ending Debate | Who’s Better Than Who

Hey Steemains,

I and my buddy @bunnychum always have this debate on as he is an android fan and I use an iPhone. But I personally like both. Entering huge world of smart phones, Android and iOS have been the most competitive platforms so far. It’s about Android’s customization or iPhone’s elegance, both Operating systems are spectacular when it comes to functionality but the choices have to be one.

Hardware is one of the biggest line which separates android from iPhone. If you want to buy iPhone, you just need to choose the model as Apple has a 100% control over its hardware and software. But when it comes to android, Google offers the android software to every second phone maker be it HTC, Motorola, LG and some giants like Samsung or Google itself. Due to which android exists in a wide variety of sizes and qualities. So to buy a good android smartphone, there has to be a good choice of phone maker and model. Some premium android devices like Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel may give a good competition to Apple’s iPhone. But the cheaper android phones don’t stand a chance against iOS as the quality cannot be matched. iPhones too have hardware issues but these are embedded in a higher quality of hardware. 

When it comes to affordability, Apple is known for its premium phones. iPhone X, A 1000$ smartphone boomed the market by being the most expensive phone Apple ever made. Even being this expensive, The demand was so high that the gadget was out of stock within no time. Samsung’s note series and Google Pixel series also run along in the league but there is another side of android market, Companies manufacturing android OS sell their smartphones at cheaper prices with low-end Hardware.

App Store and Play Store occur to be another aspect of the difference. Android wins the league as it has more variety of apps than iOS. There are around 2.8 million apps on android playstore which is around 6 hundred thousand more than that Apple’s App Store. Frankly, Numbers are not best metric as there are only a handful of apps which are popular are mostly available on both operating systems. Organizing millions of apps in not easy and neither one of both are perfect in it. But new App Store which came along iOS 11 gives a better browsing experience. One of the biggest reason Android is preferred over iOS is the side loading and alternative app stores. Apple does not allow third party app stores as it opens up the risk of malware into its system which makes android a better platform as it gives a wider choice of apps.

When it comes to phone battery, Android is considered better than iPhone. Wireless charging was introduced in 2017 models by Apple whereas Android market took to lead years ago. Fast charging is more supported in Android devices and accessories for the same come out of the box. Apple offers fast charging but the accessories for the same have to be bought separately which is pretty expensive. Battery became an issue for Apple company last year as the company accepted the fact that decreasing battery life in older models has been intentional and can be replaced at minimal rates which start from 29$.

Battery is not the only aspect of long lasting. Software updates in Apple are consistent but if same experience is needed in Android, Google Pixel is the right choice. Apple’s latest software, iOS 11 has been installed in 50% of devices. Even iPhone 5s which was launched back in year 2013 is compatible for latest software update. On the other hand only 0.2% of android devices have been updated to latest update known as Oreo. This explains that software updates do not show up in most of android devices which decreases life of the gadget overall. Due to older versions in android and malware practices, Security is a big issue on android. Google admits that it uses all of user’s data to sell better ads and market products to user whereas stories in case of Apple are opposite. The company once got in a war with FBI to secure users encryption. This kind of dedication is hard to go against. On the contrary even Apple is also not fully secure as stories of hacking Celebs’ iCloud accounts were there too. 

Other factors such as camera and backups are also important to aspects in a smartphone. iPhone is known for its camera quality but decisions is difficult to make as Pixel 2 claims to be best camera in the world. Depth mode in iPhone 7 plus and above models has been speechless so far. The camera quality in low end iPhone SE has been good so far too but when it comes to low cost android smartphones, the camera quality decreases tremendously. 

Walking though storage and backup, iPhone lags behind in both the cases. Apple offers only 5GB free of iCloud space where as Google drive exceeds with 15GB of free space. After the storage exceeds, Rental plans are offered with 10$ per month for 1 TB by both platforms. Google photo are the best as it provides unlimited storage space even for 1080p video quality. Many more aspects revolve around comparing assistants and other features.

It gets more complicated as we dig more into this matter. Both the platforms are mature. What is important is the fact that individual priorities should be taken care of by the buyers and the choice should be made wisely before buying. As the title states, it’s a never ending debate!

Please share your opinions. Your comments/suggestions are most welcomed.