The fight of iPhone vs. Android will likely never have a real winner, but we’re going to try and help you to find your personal pick all the same.
The latest version of both operating systems – iOS 15 and Android 12 – are both excellent, but in slightly different ways. Many of their features overlap, but design-wise they look quite different, aside from the basic touchscreen-focused layout. Whichever of the best phones available today you buy, they’ll be running one of these two OSes.
Pitting iPhone vs. Android, we take a look at the respective strengths of each mobile platform, so you can pick the right one for you the next time you buy a smartphone. If you want to see the current flagships for Android and iOS, be sure to check out our Pixel 6 vs. iPhone 13 face-off.
iPhone vs Android: Why iPhone is better
You’re invested in Apple’s ecosystem. This might seem like a shallow reason, but Apple obviously makes a wide breadth of tech products, and if you already own a Mac, iPad or Apple Watch, getting an iPhone makes a lot of sense.
Apple has designed a multitude of continuity features that allow you to carry over work and data from one of its devices to another, and these features can certainly save you time. Take Handoff, for example, where calls on your iPhone and web pages in Safari can move seamlessly between iOS and macOS. Universal Clipboard makes text copied on one platform usable on the other. Another one of our favorites is Continuity Camera, which allows you to take pictures and scan documents using your iPhone’s camera, and then view and edit them on your Mac. You can even complete purchases on your Mac by using biometric authentication features on your iPhone via Apple Pay.
Only a handful of Android phone makers have hardware ecosystems that approach Apple’s, and even for some that come close, like Samsung, you won’t get the depth of integration possible between the iPhone and other Apple-built devices. Microsoft is helping Google close the gap somewhat with its new Your Phone app for Windows, which allows Android users to respond to texts and notifications on their PCs, though the experience is a little clunky and there is still work to be done.
There are many other great examples of continuity across iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and macOS — and the iPhone is a critical component in that puzzle, especially now that iPhone apps can be seamlessly ported to macOS. Power users already immersed in Apple’s ecosystem can stand to gain a lot by adding an iPhone to their repertoire. And that’s to say nothing of friends and family members who prefer to use iMessage and FaceTime to keep in touch.
The third-party apps are just better. This one is definitely down to personal preference, but as someone who has jumped back and forth between iOS and Android as long as both platforms have existed, I’ve been consistently blown away by the quality of apps built by iOS developers, and mostly disappointed in their Android counterparts.
Don’t get me wrong — there’s great software and developers on Android, but they’re harder to find, in my experience. One of our favorite Twitter apps, Tweetbot 5, is an iOS exclusive, for example; by contrast, one of the best third-party Twitter apps we’ve encountered on Android, Fenix 2, strongly pales in comparison. One of our staff members, Henry T. Casey, loves using Bear to compose blog posts on his Mac and iPhone, but we’ve struggled to find a note-taking app on Android as comprehensive and slick.
You may even find that apps from established companies, ranging from banks to airlines, are a bit smoother and cleaner on iOS than Android, with better integration with the phone’s core services, like Wallet.
There’s a bigger selection of accessories. Walk into any Best Buy or Target, and you’ll find aisles of cases for every iPhone that Apple makes — something that certainly cannot be said for the Android contingent outside of flagship devices from the biggest companies. Once you get past the semi-healthy selection of products made for the latest Galaxy S device, you’re out of luck. Don’t bother expecting a choice of accessories for your new Pixel or Motorola handset at any brick-and-mortar retailer. Sure, you could go online and snag a $4 case off of Amazon, but then you’re guaranteed to get what you pay for.
The selection and availability of iPhone cases, screen protectors, car mounts and other goodies is simply far greater than you’ll find for any other phone, and that’s more important than most people realize. iPhone owners will never have the problem of not finding a case to their liking.
There are enhanced privacy controls with app tracking notifications. One of the biggest recent iOS releases introduced app tracking notifications, allowing you to opt out of apps tracking you across your phone. This was a major win for privacy advocates and a huge blow to many third-party companies, like Facebook.Advertisement
Android simply doesn’t have this feature and we doubt it ever will. Don’t get stuck in the belief that iOS is inherently more private than Android, since Apple still collects a ton of data about you, but iOS still has a bit more resilience when it comes to third-parties. It’s so satisfying to deny an app the ability to track you.
There’s no bloatware. No matter how you buy your iPhone, where you buy it from or what iPhone you buy, you won’t see any bloatware preinstalled when you boot it up for the first time. That means it’s clean from the very start, with no power- or data-siphoning apps you didn’t ask for sabotaging things behind the scenes.
That’s a relief if you’ve ever seen the way a new Android phone arrives out of the box — particularly one that you’ve bought through a carrier. Even spending $1,800 on a Galaxy Z Fold 3 doesn’t spare AT&T customers from the affront of seeing software like CNN and DirecTV Now cluttering their app drawers. And it can be even worse if you buy a budget handset that has been heavily subsidized by a discount carrier.
Android buyers who purchase one of the best unlocked phones without a service agreement will have better luck avoiding bloatware. It also depends on the company. For example, unlocked Pixel phones aren’t mired down by any third-party apps; on the other hand, it’s not totally unheard of for some unlocked handsets to come with the odd unwelcome sponsored software (or ads).
You get quicker software updates. Android phones get fewer updates than iPhones, and when they do, they happen less frequently and are often delayed with the exception of Google’s Pixels.
The number of updates an Android phone sees over the course of its lifetime depends largely on how expensive it is, what carrier you buy it from (or if it’s even purchased from a carrier at all) and what the phone maker’s software support policy is.
That’s a far cry from iPhones, which are supported with major software updates for many years, no matter what. Take the iPhone 6S, for example, which received iOS 15, even though it originally launched with iOS 9 back in 2015. For comparison, consider Samsung’s Galaxy S6, which launched the same year and started with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Not only does it lack the latest Android software, but it stopped getting updates years ago. It only made it as far as 7.0 Nougat when Samsung pulled the plug on support — and when the S6 did get Nougat, it arrived in March 2017, eight months after Google unveiled the update.Advertisement
What’s more, when a new iOS version is released, it is available to everyone on the same day, at the same time, and can be installed on all models that support it instantaneously. By contrast, Android releases are rolled out in waves to individual phones, not just by model.
It has better retail support. Let’s say something goes horribly wrong with your iPhone, and you need to get it serviced. Or perhaps you want a screen protector installed on it, and you’d rather have it handled by a professional, who will slap that film on with nary a bubble or speck of dust. Whatever your issue is, it’s nice to have a place to go — and what better place for iPhone users than the Apple Store. Yes, Covid restrictions can make this difficult, but at least you have the option.
Owners of Android phones don’t necessarily enjoy that luxury. If you need a new battery or a screen replacement and you didn’t purchase a protection plan from the retailer you bought it from, you’ll probably have to ship it back to the manufacturer. That’s quite a time-consuming hassle, given how much we all depend on our phones day in and day out. Some reputable repair shops like uBreakiFix help bridge the gap a bit, like for Pixel phones.
