Things you gain with iOS

1) Timely OS updates, and updates to older devices

The biggest advantage when the same company makes the hardware and software is timely updates. The newest iOS 9 update hit 50 percent of all devices in just 4 days. Android Lollipop reached 21 percent in 10 months, iOS 9 crossed that in 48 hours.

Android phone makers usually promise one major Android update for each handset. The iPhone 4s has received four major iOS updates since its launch 2011. I doubt there is any Android phone in the market that was made in 2011 that is running the latest version of the OS, which could bring in a host of new features and be a new lease of life to an old phone.

Sometimes important security fixes also are a part of newer updates, which will be hard for Android users to get.

2) Negligible fragmentation

Google generally releases a new version of Android every year, most manufacturers then take that OS and make their own variation of it (the manufacturers "skins", such as TouchWiz, HTC Sense, MIUI et al) and then sell it to customers. Then next year, Google releases the next Android software update. For Android phone makers to keep supporting older hardware with new versions of Android is tedious and cost-intensive (remember they stop selling that model after a year or two anyway) so you get lots of Android phones on the market, all of which are running different versions of the OS.

Then there's fragmentation within manufacturers' own UI overlays. Look at TouchWiz on a Note 4 and a Galaxy S6, and you'll notice they're not exactly the same and they have separate timelines for updates. Or let's take the example of how Xiaomi's MIUI 6 chose to keep some of its own feature implementations instead of Google's, while running Android 5.0 Lollipop.


Then there's hardware fragmentation that causes further software fragmentation, as there are a wide variety of screen sizes and display resolutions, processors, and different amounts of RAM available to developers.

With iOS, there is negligible software fragmentation as there are only a handful devices with fixed screen resolutions, processing power and hardware capabilities. With different screen sizes and multiple models, the iPhone is slightly more fragmented than it was a few years ago, but it is still a tiny variance, when compared to Android.

3) Unmatched cross-device syncing if you use other Apple products

This is a big plus if you're the owner of multiple Apple products. Thanks to software-hardware integration, no other software ecosystem lets you take phone calls that come to your phone on your computer without installing any additional software, then reply to SMSs from your tablet, and pick up an article you were reading on a tablet on your phone, right at the point where you left off.

4) Consistent hardware upgrade cycles

Many iPhone loyalists usually stick to a two to three year upgrade cycle. The reliable software updates are also an incentive to stick to your current iPhone, knowing that you'll get the same software features as the new one (unless they're hardware-dependent). Also, since 2011, a new iPhone consistently comes out by September each year. This is reassuring since you're buying something knowing when the next version is going to be out.

With Android, there's far too much distraction, with so many manufacturers vying for your attention with their devices. Unless you're loyal to one Android phone maker, the timelines are all messed up with tempting Android phones launching all along the year. You buy one thing, and some other phone maker will come up with their next best in a few months, making you yearn for a feature or two that it has, and yours doesn't.

5) A variety of high-quality, creative apps 


Two years ago, apps on iOS were better designed than the ones on Android. In the past two years, we've seen more and more developers make Android apps look good. Today, a fair share of apps we use on Android are certainly not poorly-designed. But iOS still holds the pedestal for good looking apps. Not only are apps well-designed, but some really excel in terms of their creativity. For example, the famous Paper app is to date exclusively for iOS. Infinity Blade, a game with cult following, has remained iOS exclusive for all three versions. One wonders if it would have ever gotten paid downloads in the same numbers, had it released on Android.

You may say there's a certain superiority complex among iOS-exclusive developers, but it boils down to the fact that iOS users are more willing to pay for apps than Android users and that they're simply pandering to that audience, by going the extra mile.

6) Comparatively lesser malware 

Apple's "walled garden" of apps comes with certain benefits when it comes to malware. Apple doesn't let you tinker with the OS in any meaningful way, and doesn't (for all practical purposes) let you install apps without using the App Store. It does not permit third-party app stores, and has stringent measures to prevent malicious apps from entering the app store. Okay, maybe this is a bad week to be writing this, but it's generally true.

Add to that the fact that Android has the lion's share of the global market, which makes it an appealing target for malware makers, the same way Windows users tend to get targeted more on PCs.


So there you have it - both platforms compared in 2015. Personally, I've kept swapping between Android and iOS every few years and although currently I swear by Android, iOS only has one shortcoming, in my view, the fact that I can't have system-wide default apps that don't belong to Apple. Come iOS 10, I hope Apple will finally let me pick Gmail as the default mail app.