I’m assuming here that ios is a safer platform that Android?
One obvious thing is, Apple regularly and freely update their platforms to all iphone/ipad users, only the age of devices stopping some from updating because they are quite literally hanging onto 10 year old devices, hence why banks etc end up dropping support for their apps on those devices because of security concerns.
Android, well as far as I know, only support devices for two years with free platform updates? I have a Nokia 7.2 (alongside my iphone XR) which is an Android One phone on Android 10. I’m awaiting the final free update to it sometime in the next quarter, but after that as far as I know, I won’t get any more updates to it bar perhaps the monthly security patch update.
Out of the two, my iphone will always be King. I’m not really a fan of Android, but I wanted a second smart phone with dual sim capability, and paying £245 for the Nokia was a darn site cheaper than another iphone which I always buy outright.
It depends on the phone but it can be up to three years for security updates. Google has the view that a phone is out of date after two years. They’re a tech company so not too surprising. The reality is most people in the UK are on two year contracts and after two or three years the battery life is no longer good enough unless you’re a light user maybe.
Apple has claimed as an advantage in the past that they support phones for longer but you end up with a new operating system running on old hardware that isn’t able to take advantage of the latest features. Most likely it just won’t run as well.
No. The AppStore is more tightly controlled but the security of both operating systems isn’t in question. I don’t doubt the quality of the Apple hardware, I just want more control over how I use my device. I use open source software wherever possible and iOS just isn’t compatible with how I think software should be developed and distributed.
I suppose in a way, it’s a bit like home routers. I won’t use ISP supplied routers anymore because they’re so locked down, you can quite literally do nothing with them. For the average home user, ISP supplied routers are fine, but I want some control over the router.
Apple keep back many of the features partly to ensure that the phone continues to run OK.
Obviously this means if you absolutely must have that feature, you must upgrade your hardware, but it also gives a trade-off where you can continue running up to date and patched software for a long time after you’ve purchased the phone (even if it doesn’t get every new feature).
I’ve always thought of Android as more experimental - you have much more freedom, a bit like with a jailbroken iPhone, but this comes with other costs. The phone likely won’t be properly supported beyond about 2 years. The device will therefore appear to “age” faster. My iPhone X will be four years old this November, yet I’m currently on the iOS 15 beta and it still runs well. The battery isn’t quite what it used to be, but I could replace that if I wanted without replacing the whole phone.
My opinion is that you generally have to pay a higher list price with an iPhone, but can expect it to last longer, while Android users are likely to need to upgrade more frequently. Especially with the cheaper Android phones which are cheaply made and therefore a bit of false economy.
I’m with @Topsy2 on the ISP-supplied routers analogy. In fact, I run a Windows Server at home and the “router” is really just a modem to connect to the internet - everything else is done by the server. Very few, if any, people would want this but it provides advanced features like a VPN into my own home.
Apple relies on hardware sales though. They may do everything you say and may even boast about it as an advantage over android but if everyone kept their iphone as long as you have they’d be in trouble.
The fact is the majority do not keep their phones for more than three years. If anything I expect iOS users upgrade their phone more often. It’s a very small minority that benefit from what you’re talking about.
I personally keep my iphones for around 5 to 6 years before upgrading. I’ve still got an iphone 3gs and 5s sat in a draw. For the first time in about 12 months, I switched on the 5s (after charging it) and upgraded the firmware on it. I keep it as a spare ‘just in case phone’, or to lend it to a family member that might not have a mobile. The 3gs, I’m just keeping until it becomes a collectors piece.
It’s not a small minority, a study on this by Apple themselves (which Tim Cook revealed in a recent earnings call) found that the average customer keeps their phone for 3 years.
I didn’t necessarily expect to keep my iPhone X this long, I had an iPhone 6 previously from launch (so that lasted just slightly over 3 years) but as I read somebody say recently “the iPhone X is ridiculously over-engineered”. It is basically a Pro-series iPhone before the pro-series existed, and it has clearly been very carefully designed. The iPhone XS actually cut costs (and quality) in numerous components, so it’s quite possible that Apple sacrificed some profit margin on the original X in order to do a really good 10th anniversary model, where they then cut costs back for the XS in order to meet their usual margins.
The large margins on devices do also “fund” Apple’s long software and services support, but that’s worth it to me.
This 256GB iPhone has cost me less than £1 a day since I bought it, which is amazing really for the value I’ve got out of it. I’m happy to have paid a 4-figure sum at launch for that value.
I have no issue with the average of three years but I doubt you will find many who keep their phone beyond that and even android provides that length of support for security updates at least.
I have the complete opposite attitude. I would rather give Google all my data and have a cheaper phone. They also provide brilliant free services. It’s a good arrangement for both of us
Also the new Google pixel 6 coming out this year is rumoured to have five years of support.
For the average to be three years, counting everybody, then a significant number must keep their phones well beyond the 3 years in order to offset the significant tech-hungry minority who upgrade every year!
I admit I would probably upgrade more frequently if I could afford to, but at the current stage in my life I can’t.
Apple provide fully-featured new versions of iOS for at least three years (usually 4 or 5; 2015’s iPhone 6S is getting iOS 15) and continue providing security patches for major security issues for well beyond that. iOS 12, for example, still receives security updates today and that covers devices like the iPad Mini 2 released in late 2013 (nearly 8 years ago).
You seem to be implying that software support is broadly equivalent or almost the same between the two platforms and that’s just not the case. I accept that Android has become more compartmentalised over time to avoid the “your system version is too old to run this app” issue most of the time, but continuing support for Google Play Services isn’t the same as full software support.
Partly this is due to apps not needing to go through Apple’s much more stringent (but still not perfect) App Store review process.
I agree that both platforms are different but the average person, these days, is unlikely to run into issues running any of their favourite apps before they “naturally” upgrade their phone.
That’s been a welcome and successful change over the last few years.
I was under the distinct impression it was because a sizeable number of customers do care and it was designed to set them apart from other no-name Chinese smartphone manufacturers as a result.
Also, it positions them as more akin to Apple’s level of support (which is important when some flagship Android phones are as expensive as iPhones these days).
This forum and its users are not representative of the majority. I don’t know anyone apart from me who cares about updates. Most people probably don’t know what version of Android they’re on.
I can’t speak for iOS but if the average is three years for replacement then nobody is going to care about updates.
If you replace your android phone every three years you’re only likely to be one version of Android behind. I doubt anyone is going to care about that or even notice.
Maybe Android users care less, but there is still major hype around new .0 iOS releases even amongst “ordinary” people. I remember the “widget craze” at the launch of iOS 14, for example (and yes, I know Android has had widgets for years)!
There was also a Dark Mode craze at the launch of iOS 13.
Really, I thought Android had switched to annual updates now?
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