iPhone or Android: The Smartphone Showdown

With the release of the new iPhone 6s, Apple’s sales once again shoot up to a dozen folds. Drooling for gadgets, consumers try to get the latest the industry has to offer. But with its price comes the question, is it worth my money?

Let’s look at some points each platform bids:

1. Operating System – According to the latest study from Nielsen, Android dominates the mobile OS market. This survey was made this year wherein 43% of U.S. smartphone users own an Apple iPhone. But then again, with Apple bolted on its iOS, it still dominates among brands, not to mention their updated OS compared to Android which relies on manufacturers for updates.

 

 

2. App  Store and Malware Security. Apple’s iOS App Store still has more apps than the Google play store. Well, people particularly don’t check on the number of apps available when they buy a smartphone. Android users can get apps from Google Play Store, the Amazon Appstore, and other developers. This, however, risks your phone from installing malwares into your system.

As to iPhone, they only have the Apple App Store where you can get the latest updates on the best apps.

3. User Reliability. Based on  OpenSignal study, there are 18,000 kinds of Android devices that developers need to optimize and support. With this very wide range, developers would need to wait for user complaints about a device-specific bug before they can work on their app updates. Whereas, Apple has fewer devices to work on which means they are able to test the apps on how it works on each device. Here’s a chart of Android fragmentation as of this year. That’s a lot of Android, right?

4. Brand Retention. With people having experienced using an iPhone, the loyalty stays. In a WDS study, 76% of Apple customers upgrade from one iPhone to another followed by Samsung which garners 58% retention