If you have been using iPhone and suddenly decided to switch to Android, then it will be difficult for you to choose something. A few tips – in this material …
Original material by Anton D. Nagi
iPhone occupies most of the US market and is not going to give up positions. On the other hand, Android – smartphones globally dominate iPhone. There are many reasons for this, and in this vein, everything will be in the near future.
By itself iPhone is not just a phone. It's a trendy attribute. A modern symbol of narcissism. It costs an unreasonable amount, looks the same and 'just works'. This expression in the context of smartphones from Apple is deprecated, but still in use thanks to word of mouth.
When it comes to being trendy, or losing profits, here iPhone succeeds at one thing: marketing. The company makes you want this smartphone. Integrated iCloud experience for storing files and passwords, Apple Music and iMessage, plus our own customer service points. What else do you need from a phone, ahem, sorry, a fashionable attribute? It's understandable why there are more iPhone users in the US than Android smartphone owners, because Americans are individualists who love to show off. According to StatCounter Global Stats, from March 2018 to March 2019 iOS occupied 54.74% of the US market, while the share Android in it was 44.89%. iPhone has become an enlarged rectangular version of the wedding ring.
Cherry on the cake? Apple controls everything about iPhone, from hardware (cameras, processors, design) to software (emoticons, updates, interface and user experience).
Android and separation boundary
If you have been using iPhone for a long time and suddenly decided to switch to Android, then it will be difficult for you to choose something. It would be wise to take the 'on duty' flagship, which will almost always be from Samsung (yeah, brand loyalty), but they are not cheap. You can start with something inexpensive, but the best option is Motorola and their tendency to forget about software updates on their smartphones. Still, as in the case of iPhone, Android – devices have their own secondary market.
There are three choices for price positioning:
- Flagship
- Middle segment (divided into upper and lower)
- Budget devices
The US is mostly a market for flagships, so we have a strange trend of paying a thousand dollars for a smartphone. As prices rise, the boundaries between the first and second segments begin to blur. The cost of a smartphone is also determined by the processor that is installed in it. Processors Qualcomm Snapdragon, on which Android – smartphones work, are also divided into levels:
- Snapdragon 8-series (855, 845, 835, 821, 820) – flagships
- Snapdragon 7 Series (730, 712, 710) – Upper Mid-Range
- Snapdragon 6 Series (675, 670, 665, 660, 653, 636, 632, 630, 626, 625) – Upper and Lower Middle Segment
- Snapdragon 4-series (450, 439, 435, 429) and 2-series (212, 205) – budget
Reddit users are advised to purchase last year's flagship as a universal smartphone. Unfortunately, only flagships will be able to find decent cameras (yes), the cost is several hundred dollars lower than the latest flagship (yes) and longer support from the manufacturer compared to devices in other segments (yes). However, there are no special places to get after-sales service from Android. The only way out is to call the manufacturer's support service and send them the device for repair or replacement.
The best analogue Android is the automaker Kia. Having started with very mediocre machines, the company was able to achieve good results. Android symbolizes innovation and openness. The commercial appeal is driven by software. It is difficult to promote software when the main functions are 'hardwired' into the OS. This is where original equipment manufacturers or OEMs come in.
We all know them – Samsung, Google, Huawei, OnePlus, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Xiaomi, LG, HTC, ZTE, ASUS, Essential and others. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, which create two sets:
- A phone for everyone
- The phone is not for everyone
If you move to the east, where most of the population lives, then the choice falls into the first set. There are more manufacturers, phones are cheaper and offer more features for their money. Android makes it possible to make phones cheaper than the cost of making a copy iPhone, all due to the contrast between distribution Android and iOS. This is why gs.statcounter.com shows that Android has 75.33% of the global market compared to 22.4% for iOS.
It is difficult to determine exactly what exactly is selling Android, because there are so many varieties of this operating system on the market. Samsung and Google are fighting to become Android – a counterpart of iPhone (in short – Samsung is winning so far), for Huawei the North American market is closed, but the company shows strong sales in other markets and offers a good combination of price and quality in different segments. OnePlus (a subsidiary of OPPO, which in turn is a sub-brand of BBK Electronics) entered the US market with a 6T smartphone ('flagship killer') and a contract with T-Mobile to compete with flagships. Sony could fill the mid-market market if it lowered prices a bit and actually got into smartphones, which are good, but not as good as Samsung. Motorola and Nokia focused on budget phones and mid-range smartphones, LG tries to do something, but it doesn't work out very well, Xiaomi globally dominates the budget and mid-range segment and HTC seems to be phasing out mobile soon. Essential was akin to a one-hit artist. ZTE? Asus?
Samsung led the way in the photography segment until Google officially entered the market. Google and Huawei are currently fighting for the top spot. Google used to be the leader in software, but Samsung is already on its heels with the release of an updated One UI and providing, if not the fastest, but a constant stream of updates, and OnePlus has the cleanest and 'lightest' software in its assets, Oxygen OS. And suddenly out of nowhere Huawei appears and suddenly begins to catch up with the big three (Apple, Samsung, Google), supplying cool cameras and capacious batteries in a beautiful design.
Not all. Google controls Android, but manufacturers can bring their own peculiarities to it, because the project is open source. The biggest problem Android is its fragmentation. Android is divided into:
- 'Clean' (Motorola, Nokia)
- Pixel UI (Google)
- One UI (Samsung)
- Oxygen OS (OnePlus)
- EMUI (Huawei)
- Sense (HTC)
- Xperia UI (Sony)
- UX (LG)
- MIUI (Xiaomi)
- ZenUI (ASUS)
Thus, manufacturers stand out from the competition, and this is the key to consider Android, it's not just Samsung or Google.
Google updates the main branch Android (Nougat, Oreo, Pie), and the rest of the manufacturers decide whether they want to update their devices within the stated 2 years, as most of the above manufacturers do, and Google is even approaching three years of support . Then operator modifications are applied (if there is a contract and binding). Samsung is the slowest to update its devices, because their software includes many features that are not in the 'stock' version Android, it takes more time to work with the latest software, as well as to fix bugs and improve performance. But the wait is worth the wait, as most of Samsung's updates are stable and reliable. Huawei is usually in no rush either. The worst situation is with updates for Motorola and LG, they usually forget about the smartphone a year after its sale. The best ones are Google, OnePlus, Essential (support hasn't ended yet) and probably Nokia.
Android was famous for its 'crooked software', unreliability and bad cameras. Things started to change with the introduction of Project Butter in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. In addition to internal changes in the update, a frame rate of 60 fps for software became available, which ultimately made the experience and interface smoother.
From a camera point of view, iPhone held the reins until a certain time, especially after the announcement of Snapchat, an app in which the camera quality on Android could not be compared with that on iOS. This only widened the gap between the two giants, but everyone successfully forgot that Snapchat developer Evan Spiegel created the service with an eye on iPhone. This is why the app for iPhone is the first to receive the latest features, new design and improved camera quality. Snapchat at Android takes a screenshot of the viewfinder and uses it as a picture instead of using the Camera2 API, which is a direct link to the phone's camera. Let's not forget how much battery power is consumed and the phone heats up.
This may be part of the reason for the big sales iPhone. Kids and teens used Snapchat as it grew and matured into what it is today, and everyone already had the thought that Android is 'buggy' and doesn't shoot well. And it was this contrast that drove people to buy iPhone. In 2016, everything changed with the announcement of the seventh generation of the Galaxy S line and the first Pixel devices, which were positioned as competitors iPhone and to each other.
Original material by Anton D. Nagi
Of course, certain theses from the above are relevant only for the North American market, but there are also quite universal provisions. For some reason, the author ignored the leading positions Huawei and other major players from the Middle Kingdom and did not bother to summarize his research, which, in principle, is common.
For users iPhone who want to switch to Android, it is easy enough to get lost in all this splendor, the variety amazes and discourages the unprepared user. At the same time, it is very important to understand that each manufacturer has its own view of personalization and the appearance of a smartphone. The easiest thing to do would be to switch to something visually similar, albeit distantly. OnePlus, as expected, comes to mind, which up to the model with index 5 had a habit of borrowing from Apple the design of smartphones and individual software elements.
On the other hand, a radical transition to something new also does not threaten extensive cognitive dissonance, Android can be quite simple, as, for example, in versions with a 'clean' system. The buy last year's flagship position is good, but not everyone is ready for such a low start. That is why the “best” devices of the middle price category will be ahead of the rest of the planet, they are quite universal and do not require large investments, and their global expansion is only gaining momentum. What advice would you give to someone moving from iPhone to Android?