OPINION: Historically, I’d probably describe myself as an avid iPhone user. I’ve either bought or reviewed every single generation of iPhone since the humble days of the iPhone 3Gs, and I’ve had various combinations of iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods and Mac over the years.
However, since taking up the position of Mobile Editor here at Trusted Reviews, I’ve found myself using more and more Android smartphones.
It’s no surprise really; Apple might launch around four models of iPhone per year, but that pales in comparison to the number of Android smartphones that drop in the same period.
As such, I’ve been spending much more time using flagship Android smartphones. While I initially always swapped back to my iPhone after finishing up on an Android phone review, that urge dwindled over time – so much so that, even with access to the top-end iPhone 16 Pro Max towards the end of this year, I switched back to Android soon after the review went live and didn’t look back, but why?
For me, I think it’s a combination of Android hardware that, after steady improvement over the past few years, matches or even surpasses that of what you’ll find on an equivalent iPhone, alongside the uptick in the number of bugs and issues I was running into while using iOS 18 day-to-day.
Android smartphone hardware is impressive
Let’s take a look at some of the fantastic phones you get on the Android side of things. Whether you want a foldable, candybar phone, small phone or big phone, there’s something for everyone in the Android ecosystem.
Phones that I’ve found myself constantly going back to in 2024 include the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, Honor Magic 6 Pro, OnePlus 12, Honor Magic V3, Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, Oppo Find X8 Pro and, of course, the absolutely fantastic Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, all of which offer something that the iPhone doesn’t.
Take the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra and Honor Magic V3 as prime examples; the clamshell and book-style foldables offer an impressive experience with bendable screens that either shrink a 6.9-inch phone into something that fits into the palm of your hand or expand from a regular phone to something akin to a tablet.
That’s an experience that simply doesn’t exist in the Apple ecosystem, and I’ve grown quite fond of having a big 7.92-inch OLED screen at my disposal for web browsing and chatting, especially one in as thin and light a form factor as the Magic V3.
Then there are the fantastic camera phones to consider; while Apple’s top-end iPhone 16 Pro Max does an admirable job of snapping photos, it doesn’t have that same allure as it once did with massive steps forward in the Android competition thanks to collaboration with photography powerhouses like Leica and Hasselblad.
The likes of the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, Honor Magic 6 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Oppo Find X8 Pro, in my experience, all take a comparable if not better photo in most conditions than the top-end iPhone, especially once you start zooming into shots.
In fact, I even opted to use the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra over the iPhone 15 Pro to capture photos of my engagement earlier this year.
Then there’s screen tech. Now, I’m not going to say that the iPhone 16 Pro Max doesn’t have an absolutely stellar screen because that’s simply not true; it is, hands-down, one of the best screens on the market with vanishingly slim bezels and impressive HDR performance.
However, the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offer an equally impressive screen experience and, in the case of Samsung’s flagship, a handy anti-reflective coating that makes the screen far more visible in bright sunlight.
There’s also the inclusion of the S Pen, further boosting what you can do with the S24 Ultra’s big 6.9-inch canvas, making it a genuinely tempting alternative to Apple’s top-end Super Retina XDR panel.
Even the gap between Apple’s in-house silicon and Android chipsets has shrunk over the past 12 months to the point where recently released phones like the Oppo Find X8 Pro match, or even surpass, the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro Max in benchmark tests.
As such, the day-to-day experience is indistinguishable between the two camps at the flagship level, with the Android competition able to handle the same top-end games as the latest iPhones.
Finally, there are charge speeds; while Apple was rumoured to finally boost the iPhone 16 Pro Max charge speeds to 45W, that never materialised, instead sitting at around the same 30W as recent entries in Apple’s smartphone collection.
Reader, that’s downright glacial compared to the fast charging you’ll find from the likes of the 100W charging on offer from the OnePlus 12, which allows the phone to go from flat to full in just 26 minutes in my tests.
However, even with fantastic hardware available on the Android side of things, Apple’s ace up its sleeve is iOS – well, it has been until recently, anyway.
The woes of iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence
Generally speaking, you don’t buy an iPhone for the hardware; you buy it for Apple’s iOS software.
Apple’s user-friendly approach to iOS has traditionally been a winner for the company, with many users deciding to stick with the iPhone between upgrades because of the familiarity of the software on offer – that, and just how well it works, playing nicely with other Apple products that iOS owners likely own.
However, I’ve found that iOS 18 has been a buggier than usual experience for me, even when it comes to fairly basic aspects using of an iPhone.
That manifests in several forms ranging from the slightly annoying, like widgets disappearing on my lock screen after unlocking my device, to the downright frustrating, like notification announcements permanently turning my music down until I completely disconnect my AirPods, turn off Bluetooth and restart my Spotify app.
Sure, Apple’s software has always had small bugs and issues, but none stick in my mind as much as those I’ve found in iOS 18 during my time reviewing the iPhone 16 collection.
I also find Apple’s big gambit for 2024, Apple Intelligence, to be surprisingly un-Apple-like in its execution. Apple has a bit of a reputation for taking longer to bring features to the iPhone, but when it does, it typically does it better than most of the competition, but that’s certainly not true of Apple Intelligence in my experience.
I’ve already waxed lyrical about how inaccurate Apple’s notification summary tech is in my review of the iPhone 16, and recent headlines about misrepresenting a BBC news notification are likely still fresh in the minds of many, but it goes beyond that.
Other elements also fall short; Apple’s transcription tech is far less accurate than what you’ll find on the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and despite upgrades to Siri smarts, it’s not quite as capable as Gemini is for general queries.
I said it in my iPhone 16 review and I’ll say it again here; if you’re buying an iPhone 16, make sure it’s not for Apple Intelligence.
There are some things that only Apple can do
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some elements of the iPhone experience that are simply unmatched in the Android space.
The biggest in my mind is the iPhone’s ability to capture video. For whatever reason, Apple has always nailed elements like OIS, providing a Hollywood-esque floaty style to videos that make Android alternatives look a bit janky in comparison, and it’s rare to find a zoom as smooth as what the iPhone delivers on the Android side of things.
It goes beyond capturing good video however; iOS plays exceptionally well with other Apple products in a way that, I hate to say, ‘just works’, whether that’s your AirPods intelligently switching between your iPhone and iPad depending on what you’re using or something as simple as clearing a notification on your iPhone and having that disappear on other Apple devices.
Then there are the smaller elements of the iOS experience, like the fact you needn’t mess around with background app optimisation to make sure that your apps function properly, the timely software updates that come to all models of iPhone on the same day and even the effortless customisation of the lock screen. There’s still a lot to love about iOS.
For me however, the allure of phones like the Oppo Find X8 Pro and Honor Magic V3 is hard to ignore, and if Android manufacturers keep up the current pace, it might tempt even die-hard iPhone fans to switch. We’ll just have to wait and see what 2025 has in store.
