Which smartphone—Android or iPhone—is better for you?

The most heated debate in the phone industry is between iPhones and Androids. Here at TG, we don’t believe in favoritism, so instead we’ll go over some of the main distinctions between the two operating systems so you may choose the one that works best for you.

The most recent iterations of the two rival operating systems, iOS 18 and Android 14 (soon to be Android 15), both provide seamless and intuitive user experiences along with a number of features that are either identical or quite comparable. However, there are still significant distinctions to be mindful of that can persuade you to choose one over the other.

In order to help you choose the best mobile platform the next time you purchase a smartphone, we compare the advantages of Android and iPhone. Check out our comparison of the Pixel 9 Pro XL and iPhone 16 Pro Max to get a general idea of the newest phones in each category if you’re looking to see the current flagships for iOS and Android. If you’re certain that you want to get rid of your iPhone, learn more about configuring an Android phone to make the switch as simple as possible.

Android vs. iPhone: Why the iPhone is superior

You have financial stakes in Apple’s network. Although this may sound like a flimsy justification, Apple undoubtedly produces a wide range of digital goods, so purchasing an iPhone makes a lot of sense if you already own a Mac, iPad, or Apple Watch.

You may save a lot of time by using the many continuity features that Apple has built-in, which let you transfer work and data between its devices. Take Handoff, for example, where calls on your iPhone and web pages in Safari may flow effortlessly between iOS and macOS. Using Universal Clipboard, text that is copied to one platform can be used on another. Continuity Camera, which lets you use the camera on your iPhone to snap photos and scan documents, is another one of our favorites. You can view and edit these files on your Mac. With Apple Pay, you can even use your iPhone’s biometric authentication features to finish transactions on your Mac. Lastly, the iPhone can be used in StandBy mode, which turns it into a handy deskside companion.

There are very few Android phone manufacturers with hardware ecosystems that can rival Apple’s, and even those that do—like Samsung—don’t offer the same level of integration as the iPhone can with other Apple-made products. With its new Your Phone app for Windows, Microsoft is helping Google partially bridge the gap by enabling Android users to reply to SMS and notifications on their PCs, albeit there is still room for improvement and the user experience is a little awkward.

Numerous additional noteworthy instances of consistency exist throughout iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS — and the iPhone plays a crucial role in this picture, particularly in light of the ease with which iPhone apps may now be converted to macOS. Power users who are already well-versed in Apple products have a lot to gain by including an iPhone into their collection. Not to mention friends and relatives who would rather communicate via FaceTime and iMessage.

Simply put, the third-party apps are superior. This one is really a matter of taste, but having switched back and forth between iOS and Android, I can honestly say that every time I’ve been amazed by the quality of apps created on iOS, I’ve been generally let down by those on Android.

Please understand that while excellent apps and developers exist for Android, they are, in my opinion, more difficult to locate. For example, a lot of the greatest photo-editing apps work better on iPhones than they do on Android devices.

In fact, you might discover that iOS apps for well-known businesses—from banks to airlines—work a little more fluidly and cleanly than Android apps, and they integrate better with the phone’s main features, including Wallet.

An increased assortment of accessories is available. Aisles of cases for every iPhone manufactured by Apple can be found in every Best Buy or Target; the same cannot be said for the Android market, outside of flagship models from the largest manufacturers. You’re out of luck once you pass the somewhat wholesome assortment of goods designed for the newest Galaxy S handset. Forget about expecting a selection of accessories at any physical store for your new Pixel or Motorola phone. Yes, you could order a $4 case from Amazon online, but you would always get what you pay for.

More often than not, people don’t realise how much of a difference it makes since iPhone cases, screen protectors, vehicle mounts, and other accessories are just more readily available for this phone than for any other. The issue of not being able to locate a case that they like will never arise for iPhone customers. Additionally, accessory manufacturers obviously prioritise the 3-in-1 MagSafe chargers, which when combined with StandBy Mode turn compatible iPhones into digital picture frames and smart home hubs.

App tracking notifications come with improved privacy controls. Notifications about app monitoring were introduced in one of the most significant recent iOS versions, giving you the option to disable app tracking on your entire phone. This was a significant victory for proponents of privacy and a setback for numerous third-party businesses, including Facebook.

We don’t think Android will ever get this capability; it just doesn’t. Apple still gathers a lot of personal data on you, so don’t get trapped in the idea that iOS is intrinsically more private than Android. However, iOS is still a little more resilient to outside parties. Denying an app the ability to track you feels so good.

Bloatware is not present. You won’t find any preinstalled bloatware on your iPhone when you initially boot it up, regardless of how, where, or what kind you purchase. This indicates that it’s uncontaminated right out of the box, with no hidden applications stealing power or data or interfering with your system’s operations.

If you’ve ever seen how a new Android phone comes out of the box, especially if you purchased it through a carrier, then that’s a relief. Customers of AT&T are still blindsided by the affront of seeing apps like CNN and DirecTV Now clogging their app drawers, even after shelling out $1,800 for a Galaxy Z Fold 6. And it can be even worse if you acquire a budget handset that has been extensively subsidized by a discount carrier.

Bloatware is less likely to be installed on an Android phone purchased without a service agreement from one of the finest unlocked phones. It also relies on the business. For instance, unlocked Pixel phones are free of any third-party apps; nonetheless, it is not unheard of for some unlocked phones to include the occasional unwanted piece of sponsored software (or advertisements). One recent example of this is OnePlus, and Samsung’s phone advertisements are infamously intrusive.

Software updates happen more quickly. With the exception of Google’s Pixel phones, Android phones receive fewer upgrades than iPhones, and when they do, they happen less frequently and frequently later.

Over an Android phone’s lifetime, the number of updates it receives is mostly determined by its price, the carrier from which it is purchased (or not at all), and the software support policies of the phone manufacturer. Although the update practices of Android phone manufacturers have improved recently, Apple continues to provide more. Consider the iPhone XR, which arrived with iOS 18 despite being released nearly six years prior.

Additionally, every model that supports it can instantly install the latest version of iOS, which is made available to everyone on the same day and at the same time. Android updates, on the other hand, are distributed to specific phones in waves rather than just according to model.

Better retail support is provided by it. Let’s imagine your iPhone has a catastrophic malfunction and requires repair. Alternatively, you can prefer to have a professional apply the screen protector for you, as they will ensure that there are no bubbles or dust particles visible once the film is applied. Whatever the problem, it’s helpful to have a place to go, and the Apple Store is a great option for iPhone owners.

Not all Android phone owners get to enjoy that luxury. You’ll most likely need to send it back to the manufacturer if it needs a new battery or a screen replacement and you didn’t buy a protection plan from the store where you bought it. That is a really time-consuming inconvenience, considering how much we all rely on our phones every day. For Pixel phones, for example, certain trustworthy repair companies like uBreakiFix assist in bridging the gap a little.

Android vs. iPhone: Why Android is superior

Every pricing range is covered by phones. Android powers the great majority of smartphones worldwide, and since so many manufacturers produce Android phones, they are accessible at all price points. The Pixel 8a is one of the most affordable phones under $500; there are also some of the best large and small phones, as well as phablets and foldable phones that cost much more than $1,000. It’s likely that you can locate an Android device that meets your needs or budget, regardless of your spending limit.

That cannot be said of iPhones, which historically have been pricey upon release before seeing price reductions with subsequent iterations. The iPhone SE (2022) is the cheapest iPhone model available from Apple. At $429, it’s an incredible gadget with amazing performance, but some people may find its screen too small and its style outdated.

It offers greater customisation. Even though both iOS and Android have changed over time, Android has long been known as the platform of choice for consumers who enjoy tweaking and customising their gadgets. The home screen launcher is the first example of this since iOS 14 on the iPhone now allows users to arrange apps wherever on a page or in a drawer out of sight in addition to dynamic widgets. You may even replace the launcher on your Android phone with a different one that you download from the Google Play store.

If you prefer a third-party software over one that came preinstalled on your phone, Android also allows you to download third-party replacements for fundamental services, such as web browsers, keyboards, and media players and set them as the default versions. Over time, iOS has made progress in this area, despite the implementation still being a little awkward.

Lastly, we must discuss manufacturer skins, which are unique Android system software and user interfaces customised by certain phone manufacturers. These skins offer additional capabilities and frequently the option to customise your entire experience with themes. Some enthusiasts of Android favour Google’s “stock” version of the operating system. But many users prefer the proprietary software developed by phone manufacturers, such as OxygenOS by OnePlus or One UI by Samsung, due to its additional features, like the ability to save images and movies in password-protected folders and create scrolling screenshots.

However, with Android 12, Google made changes and introduced the new Material You design language. This approach offers more personalisation and improves upon Android’s appearance and feel over the previous several years. A pseudo-theming system adjusts the system-wide shade based on the colours of your wallpaper.

The storage can be expanded sometimes. Even while it’s not as common as it once was, some Android phones still have expandable storage. As a result, you can save files, programs, and other media on a microSD card in addition to the internal capacity of your device.

Considering the outrageous costs Apple and other phone manufacturers impose when you purchase your device, having double or quadruple capacity is an incredible perk. If you don’t even know if you’ll need an extra 128GB or 256GB of storage, why add another $100 to $150 to the cost of a new phone when you can just spend $70 on a 512GB card later?

Furthermore, some Android phones still include headphone jacks, despite the fact that this function is becoming increasingly uncommon on high-end phones these days. Apple removed headphone jacks from its phones in 2016, which was a much-wanted feature. For those who still adore wearing their dependable old wired headphones, that’s a huge issue.

USB-C is compatible with all devices. These days, most Android phones use USB-C connections for data transfer and charging, which is quite handy if you’re one of those people who prefers to travel light and carry only one cable. These days, a lot of PCs and the Nintendo Switch both include USB-C. It is quite lovely.

Older iPhone models are still limited to using the Lightning port because Apple only made the move to USB with the iPhone 15. However, before every iPhone user has switched to a smartphone without a Lightning port, a significant period will pass.

There is a real file system (supporting drag-and-drop on PCs). The majority of individuals don’t need to interact directly with the file system on their smartphone. Nevertheless, it’s helpful to know that Android offers you the choice, should you want it. Even better, when you put an Android handset into a Windows PC, you can very quickly drag and drop data into folders, as if the device were just another drive.

This implies that if you have an exceptionally large library, you don’t need to subscribe to a monthly cloud service because your media libraries and documents are easy to transfer over and save locally. When interacting with music, papers, and other files, iPhones may be incredibly irritating because they hide the file system from the user for everything but images.

Certain Android phones, such as the Galaxy S24 series, even come equipped with unique features that allow you to see and operate your device like a desktop computer. One notable instance of this is the DeX interface from Samsung. Given its adaptability, a top-tier Android phone may justifiably serve as a substitute for top-tier Chromebooks or other ultraportable PCs.

Android phones are typically the first to adopt new features. Yes, Apple has a sizable financial cushion. But it’s just one corporation, with one mentality, all the same. Because of this, iOS sometimes adopts new technology more slowly than the Android community.

It should come as no surprise that Android partners frequently release mobile advancements before Apple does, given the large number of companies who produce Android phones. Prior to the release of the iPhone, Android handsets were the first to ship with features like multi-lens cameras, real multitasking, copy and paste, NFC, 4G LTE, 5G, OLED screens, in-screen fingerprint sensors, water resistance, and wireless charging.

This is not to argue that Apple hasn’t made some innovative discoveries of its own, of course. While face recognition on a phone wasn’t new, the iPhone X was the first to use it consistently and safely. Nevertheless, a greater number of Android phones are being introduced annually from various vendors, so it’s only a matter of scale that hardware running Google’s platform is swifter to adapt.

Which should you choose?

So then, iPhone or Android: Which should you choose? Like many other decisions you make when making a purchase, the platform you choose will largely depend on your priorities.

It’s easier and more handy to own an iPhone. There are fewer things to worry about, and as Apple’s iPhone is the most widely used smartphone brand, you can find plenty of support everywhere you go, whether you need to replace your battery or are just looking to pick up a new case. Additionally, there’s the iMessage draw—at least in the US.

In those aspects, owning an Android cellphone is a little more difficult. However, it’s also more liberating since it gives you more options: you can choose the hardware and software features, customize the experience, and decide how much money you want to spend. If you’re a very picky consumer when it comes to technology, Android may be more liberating—dare I even say fun—but you’ll also probably be disappointed by the comparatively small selection of high-quality accessories and apps (like Twitter).

Our rankings of the greatest iPhones and Android phones are the ideal places to start if you’re unsure about which specific gadget you should get. Make sure the gadget you choose is compatible with your operating system.