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The iPhone from an Android Perspective
- Thread starter drinkingtea
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It won’t. iOS 7 was far more of a significant change and there was no migration because of it. If typical iPhone customers were OK with bog standard iOS with no customization opportunities for years, this won’t make difference either.
People might be mildly annoyed for a short while but they’ll get over it just as quickly.
Yes, but iOS 7 was introduced in 2013, when Android's reputation was a lot worse in comparison to today. A surprising number of iOS users have been switching to Android these last couple of years.
So, I don't think gauging iOS-to-Android migration based on the iOS 7 introduction provides an accurate representation of the amount of iOS users who would switch today because of iOS 26.
No they haven’t. The market share trend over the last 5+ years worldwide and for the last 10 years in the US is exactly the opposite of your assertion. Anecdotal commentary based on a small percentage of tech-centric users in one’s personal circle or online forums doesn’t not represent reality. Most folks who find the new UI less appealing won’t switch because the cost of overturning their ecosystem (remember, we’re talking average tech literacy here) is much higher than any temporary disdain they have for the new aesthetic.
If users decide to switch from iOS to Android, it’s far more likely going to be due to Apple’s ****** behavior over past year towards both developers and consumers or because of cost increases due to these ‘trade wars’ and tariffs, not because the UI isn’t as pretty as it used to be.
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I think it depends on where you get your data from. Then we are also halfway into 2025 so we should include those numbers too...
But agree that the numbers have been pretty close to the same for the last few years.....
I agree with @drinkingtea
I think people will look to try something else. And Google have started to do the right thing by releasing the Pixel line just before the iPhone rather than after, which could nab some more users.
I have the iOS 26 beta and I don't really like it. And I don't mean the 'liquid glass' clear view either. I mean the general coloured icons just look bad to me now. I am a big fan of customisation of my devices and with this new design I am yet to settle on something that actually looks good to my eye. I keep changing it as things just look 'off'.
Whereas with my P9 Pro, I keep changing the look up because everything looks so damn good!
Interesting times. I'm intrigued to see how apple are going to enhance and improve this early beta.
I think people will look to try something else. And Google have started to do the right thing by releasing the Pixel line just before the iPhone rather than after, which could nab some more users.
I have the iOS 26 beta and I don't really like it. And I don't mean the 'liquid glass' clear view either. I mean the general coloured icons just look bad to me now. I am a big fan of customisation of my devices and with this new design I am yet to settle on something that actually looks good to my eye. I keep changing it as things just look 'off'.
Whereas with my P9 Pro, I keep changing the look up because everything looks so damn good!
Interesting times. I'm intrigued to see how apple are going to enhance and improve this early beta.
Whenever I see post of folks switching from iOS to Android… responses are closer to desiring “something different” or “Apple has become boring.”
UI is part of it… but not necessarily because of how it looks, more so because of how inflexible iOS can be.
The last Android I had a SIM in was the Galaxy S8. Since then, I have had an Android phone all the time for app testing and keeping my knowledge fresh, but my SIM has lived in my iPhone. This past few months have made me want to leave iOS more than ever. The way they treat developers, the horrible state of AI, and the lack of innovation. If all they come up with this year is making iOS Crystal Pepsi, I'm out. I'm going to play with an S25 Ultra for a couple months and might keep that or go to a Pixel 10-series in August. My iPhone has just become my SIM-less phone.
Of course there will be people who want to try something different but we’re all talking about people who enjoy dabbling with tech. The tech enthusiast community is far different from the average consumer.
I work with typical smartphone users on a daily basis and most people 1) understand a fraction of what their devices are capable of doing, 2) Struggle to adapt with changes to an OS and in many cases won’t even update their OS for fear of having to learn how to use whatever has changed and 3) see far more people deciding to migrate to iPhone from Android either because of years of frustration or because friends/family use iPhones. These customers aren’t spontaneously dabbling in different a different OS—they usually want their smartphone to just do what they need it to and stay out of the way. They will just not update the OS if they here there are big changes vs. entirely switching their smartphone and the accompanying OS. I will intentionally be shutting off automatic updates for my family members across their Apple hardware this fall else deal with the wrath of ‘What the **** happened to my phone?!’ 😆
We’re a bunch of tech nerds—we don’t apply in these circumstances because we’re a small % and always are looking for the new shiny think to try or play with.
Yes...and?
Those are the exact people I'm referring to when I say people will look to try something else. We all know the "regular" smart phone user couldn't care less.
But the point still stands. Those people who frequent forums like this and enjoy the latest and greatest (of which there are many), will likely want to try something new. And why wouldn't they! The Android competition is fantastic.
All android would have to do is something akin to Advanced Data Protection, and I would probably switch...problem is Google won't let them.
Well, I took the original message in the conversation from @drinkingtea to imply they might expect a higher than normal migration from iOS to Android because of the redesign. If I misinterpreted, then my mistake. As I said, of course the more tech proficient will often move back and forth but that’s really nothing new. I just don’t think the regular consumer will be bothered enough by the design change to consider a wholesale change in device/OS. They certainly may not like it but the cost of changing (both time, effort, and money) will be too much for most.
And FWIW, I like the new design of Android 16 quite a bit more than what’s coming in all of Apple’s OS 26s—been running the beta on my Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Also, looking forward to testing out the new Dex-like ‘desktop’ mode that’s apparently now available.
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As someone who is an iPhone user, and happy about it, I’m not the target audience for this thread, but it’s been interesting to get a different perspective. I’ve been using iPhones since launch, and am still enjoying them. I don’t know what would need to happen to push me into considering a change. I’ve never had a good experience using Androids, but I’ve never taken the time to actually get to know how to use them.
Despite the deafening roar of all the online noise, there are an awful lot of people who are still happy with them.
And for clarity’s sake, no one should read any subtext into this post as me trying to denigrate anyone’s tastes and choices.
You should stick around in here then if you enjoy reading the differing perspective!
This sub forum is one of the few I've found online where people are very welcoming of all the smart phone variations! Sure, we all have our favourites (stock pixels, Samsung's one UI etc), but we also generally like iPhones too and a lot of us dual run.
The only problem with this sub forum is any strength you have to just stick to one phone will diminish rapidly thus depleting your wallet and overall sanity. 😋
That sounds rather nice. If there’s one thing that irritates me, it is hating on other people’s tastes and choices.
Given our budget over the next few years, If I get the itch to try playing with an Android, I’ll have to settle for borrowing my wife’s Pixel. 😆
It stands to reason that liquid glass will eventually become a downloadable skin that anyone can load onto Android to try out, no?
What's probably happening is that this new UI is meant to complement some new piece of hardware that Apple intends to release in the future, perhaps that rumoured glass-inspired iPhone, or a pair of AR glasses. Apple is releasing it now so users have time to get used to it, and developers are able to update their apps accordingly.
Yes there are themes and apps that can make Android mimic the new glass overlay on IOS 26. Just no one wanted to do that.....
Then the new glass overlay is for some future yet undisclosed hardware or device yet to be announced or made....just to get people used to it? Really??? How about fix Apple Intelligence to do what they demonstrated last year.....
Then the new glass overlay is for some future yet undisclosed hardware or device yet to be announced or made....just to get people used to it? Really??? How about fix Apple Intelligence to do what they demonstrated last year.....
I think those who wanted to give android a try either use it or have tried it already.
Most people who use iPhone likely have other devices with apple too and that would often be enough to stick with what works well for them.
This sub is not the average consumer where we have multiple devices. People tend to stick to one device and if it works they will stick with it. Look at the 16e which I thought was bad value but still sold the most in Q1
Recently I have started to realize that what I value as an iPhone has been dead ever since iPhone X (or so at least).
Despite constant mocking from some Android users, iPhone (as it was unveiled by Steve Jobs) had its main feature as "simplicity" (please don't read it with Jony Ive's voice in mind🤣).
Also build quality now is as low as cheap 400EUR Android phones. I found an old iPhone 2G at home, I thought "well what can be special about it?". But the moment I touched it I felt "yeah! that's it", aluminum feels more premium than the titanium they use in their modern Pro models. It is cool to touch, like a moka pot or something. Feels more metal than any modern iPhone. And glass too, glass feels like plastic nowadays (maybe it already is?). The small form factor was also good. But even in 2007 the iPhone 2G was lackluster and underpowered! 128MB ram, 4 or 8GB of storage with no expansion, camera with no autofocus, flash and only 2 megapixels. But still it was revolutionary.
And now? You can buy a better phone than iPhone because iPhone is no longer an innovation, a revolution. Every phone has touchscreen, a responsive enough touchscreen, sometimes with much better camera, more storage, better AI and other functions.
All the iPhones nowadays look copy-paste, software feels stuck in time (unfortunately I realized iOS26 is just marketing, it is not even near as what I would have expected).
The ultimate iPhone for me was my old 5, I accidentally cracked the screen of it and cannot repair, as well as it had few other flaws that ultimately ended its effective use for me. But the phone was very good, small, only one camera but it was more than enough. They just don't make them as they used to
Despite constant mocking from some Android users, iPhone (as it was unveiled by Steve Jobs) had its main feature as "simplicity" (please don't read it with Jony Ive's voice in mind🤣).
Also build quality now is as low as cheap 400EUR Android phones. I found an old iPhone 2G at home, I thought "well what can be special about it?". But the moment I touched it I felt "yeah! that's it", aluminum feels more premium than the titanium they use in their modern Pro models. It is cool to touch, like a moka pot or something. Feels more metal than any modern iPhone. And glass too, glass feels like plastic nowadays (maybe it already is?). The small form factor was also good. But even in 2007 the iPhone 2G was lackluster and underpowered! 128MB ram, 4 or 8GB of storage with no expansion, camera with no autofocus, flash and only 2 megapixels. But still it was revolutionary.
And now? You can buy a better phone than iPhone because iPhone is no longer an innovation, a revolution. Every phone has touchscreen, a responsive enough touchscreen, sometimes with much better camera, more storage, better AI and other functions.
All the iPhones nowadays look copy-paste, software feels stuck in time (unfortunately I realized iOS26 is just marketing, it is not even near as what I would have expected).
The ultimate iPhone for me was my old 5, I accidentally cracked the screen of it and cannot repair, as well as it had few other flaws that ultimately ended its effective use for me. But the phone was very good, small, only one camera but it was more than enough. They just don't make them as they used to
Google is already experimenting with transparent glass UIs. They have changed YouTube player recently with new translucent buttons, available on every new device with fresh browser. I suppose that will be system-wide in new Android, gotta take a while on Samsung's OneUI probably (or not)
I think most people make the mistake of thinking of the iPhone as a 'thing'. In reality its just another empty shell for iOS. Thats the product we are wedded to; what we contain it with is largely semantics. The revolutionary product was iPhone OS, not the OG iPhone which if we're being pedantic was just a glass-fronted LG Prada, phone design clearly headed down the portrait touchscreen route irrespective of Apple.
Yes, you can buy a phone with much better specs than an iPhone. But the comparisons are largely Chalk and Cheese because all those other phones run Android. More RAM and bigger stats? Moot if it doesn't have any apps to push it. Higher camera stats? Useless without the right processing. Your S25 Ultra still has a fraction of a second of shutter lag you wouldn't even find in an iPhone XR. Fine for landscapes but your kids indoors? Forget it.
90% of the apps are the same but that 10% makes a big difference. There is nothing on Android like Pixelmator or Photomator that isn't riddled with ads, no single-purchase games like iOS exclusives Tiny Wings or Trism, Hades or Death Stranding.
As users we have to temper our expectations. The OG iPhones and iPads were lightning in a bottle, whole new markets for innovation. But now everything that can be done has been and phones are as commoditised and interesting as washing machines. It isn't the job of Apple to keep the tech press constantly entertained; its up to us to find something new to occupy our time.
There fixed the bolded above for you. You are right...it is not up to Apple to entertain us......But it is up to them to make/provide products that entertain us...if they wish us to buy those products!
I am not going to get into the whole Apple versus Android debate. That is a dead horse....
But look at the missteps by Apple. Look at AI.....now don't say YOU don't like or YOU don't use or see the need for it.
The whole world sees a need and use for it. Look at Apple demonstrating AI features for the iPhone 16 that weren't ready for a year. Then might not even be ready for the iPhone 17.....
Look at foldables..... The phone space has some amazing foldables and again Apple is late to the space in folding phones. Please don't spew the nonsense that they are late to the game because they want to do it right......Look at AI...
Foldables are the future of smartphones....There are slab like phones that unfold into larger phones.
Apple is rumored to release a folding phone in 2026.......so all the iPhone users who said folding phones were a gimmick....can then say how great they are now that Apple makes one...
Whilst the utility of Apple Intelligence is greatly debated, I still think Apple took the right course of action in giving a 'command line' LLM interface a GUI and making it more accessible. I'd much prefer my AI to be baked into the OS as a series of helpful features rather than an overlay that answers to a Mother Brain.
I find Gemini quite useful as a web app but I'd rather not grant it all the permissions it needs to be the centre of my phone.
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For all that Apple has done wrong, they do a whole lot right. Using Android (Samsung) as my main and now only device since 1/2025, I sorely miss Apple's live activities. The fact that no Android manufacturer, and Google, even comes close is pathetic, tbh. There are promises to support more apps but that's all vapor to me thus far. Another one is password managers, it is still a mess on Android - I use Bitwarden. For some reason Firefox is just broken and the browser extension won't allow biometric log in. Samsung browser doesn't support Dark Reader extension or Bitwarden. Other browsers support zero extensions. I currently have 3 browsers installed on my Fold 7, though Firefox is still 99% functional. With Safari, which does support Bitwarden and Dark Reader, I just glance at my iPhone and I'm logged in or password filled, done.
For usual daily activities iOS is still supreme. Yet I still use Android because I enjoy it much more.
For usual daily activities iOS is still supreme. Yet I still use Android because I enjoy it much more.
