Why is iOS better than Android?

 

The iOS vs Android debate has been ongoing ever since the platforms were created over a decade ago. But I do want to preface this entire blog saying I don’t hate Android; I truly believe both platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses. And the decision regarding which one is best for you, is your decision to make. Everyone’s smartphone needs are different. And therefore no one can say that one platform is objectively better than the other, but I do think it’s fair to point out the specific strengths that iOS has over Android. iOS does a fantastic job at keep things simple enough that everyday people can pick up an iPhone or iPad without being intimidated by an overly complicated interface that plagues many Android devices. And if they can figure out how iOS works quicker than Android, you can bet they’ll view that product as more convenient and less frustrating.

 Also, smartphone manufactures can apply their own custom skin to Android. Meaning its interface is different depending on which hardware it’s running on. Which for most people makes the entire ecosystem appear even more convoluted and confusing?

 Which is a nightmare for everyday people who just want to use something that looks and works consistently. That also gets us into perhaps my least forepart about Android, which is the fragmentation. Just think about the fact that there are literally thousands of different Android devices on the market today. Compare that to the eight iOS devices being sold. That is an unbelievable difference that has a huge effect on a variety of things. First, iOS devices outperform Android every time. In fact, the cheapest iOS device, the $400iPhone SE, is actually faster than one of the most expensive Android devices, the $1,400Galaxy S20 Ultra. And fragmentation is to blame. Because chip manufacturers like Qualcomm have to build a one-size-fits-all chipset, capable of running on thousands of different Android devices. Compare that to Apple, who makes their own custom chips, optimized to power their own custom hardware, which runs its own custom OS. 

They control the hardware, software, and chipsets included in their products. Which means Apple can squeeze way more power out of their processors than Samsung or Google. And its why Android devices might have more processing cores or more RAM, but is still smoked by the cheapest iOS devices. All that raw power isn’t being optimized by the hardware or operating system because Qualcomm, the chip manufacturer, isn’t on the same page as Samsung, the smartphone manufacturer, who isn’t on the same page as Google, who provides the Android operating system. But the benefits of Apple’s all-encompassing approach to their products doesn’t stop there. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot more high quality, low cost apps available on the iPhone or iPad compared to Android smartphones or Android tablets? It’s because developers prefer creating for iOS over Android. And that’s because they only need to optimize their apps for a handful of iPhones and iPads, the vast majority of which are running on new version of iOS, rather than making sure their app can run on thousands of different Android products running several different versions of Android.

 Also, developers make more money on app sales on iOS, likely because pirating is much more difficult on a closed platform, rather than an open source platform like Android. Another benefit of iOS are the updates. iPhones and iPads not only receive new updates on a regular basis, but they’re also available on older devices. The latest versions of iOS have supported devices that were released five years earlier. If you have an Android device, you’d be lucky if it’s still receiving updates after two years. And that’s a really big deal to customers spending a thousand dollars or more on a new smartphone. Deciding between a device that’ll be supported for two years vs five years, is not a difficult choice for most people. The last benefit many iOS users enjoy, is its seamless integration with other Apple products. And while Apple haters will call us sheep for allowing ourselves to be locked down to one company’s ecosystem, they have to recognize that virtually every single tech company is trying to lock down their customers to their own ecosystem. It’s just that Apple is the best at it. Google tried to do it by releasing their own tablets in addition to the Chromebook and Pixel, but those tablets were a complete failure and eventually discontinued.

 And the reason why Apple is so good at integrating their product ecosystem is because they’ve been doing it ever since the company was founded in 1976. They were building and integrating their own hardware and software at a time when all computer manufacturers were licensing the Windows operating system from Microsoft, and running it on unoptimized hardware. Apple created one of the earliest popular mobile devices, the iPod, and made sure it worked seamlessly with their Mac computers. And as mobile devices like smartphones and tablets became popular, Apple found themselves in the best position to make all of these products seamlessly integrated with each other. Because that’s been their philosophy since the early days. And it’s turned out to be the right approach. Because now companies like Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and Huawei are trying to catch up and adopt the same approach.