iPhone 15 Pro The iPhone is still the gold standard when it comes to animations and smoothness

[Cod3rror]

I am an Android user, but I got a chance to play around with an iPhone 15 Pro in a phone shop the other day. Every time I use an iPhone I am blown away by how smooth it is. Animation, motion, scrolling, everything is buttery smooth.

I compared it to a Galaxy S24 side-by-side, and animations may look the same, but I can't figure out why, the iPhone is just smoother. Opening and swiping apps away looks so much better, pleasant on iOS. I can't quite pin point what do they do to make it so, and I am guessing neither can Samsung and others, otherwise they would have copied it.

There is also interactivity and reaction to touch almost everywhere in iOS. For example, Android has an edge "bounce back" now too, where the screen just warps instead of bouncing (lazy, roundabout way to implement, I think), but when you get those cookie acceptance pop-ups in the browser and try to move the text that is displayed in them, nothing happens, it's frozen. On iOS, you can move the text inside of those pop-ups up and down and it responds by bouncing back into its position.

For scrolling I preferred the S24. It was smooth, and what I like about it is how fast it is. On iOS it's just too slow. But everything is much better on iOS.

Also tried the Pixel 8. To my surprise it was a stuttery mess. I even went into settings and turned on 120Hz refresh rate, which is still not enabled everywhere, but it still did not help. Both the iPhone and the S24 were smoother.

They say OnePlus is the closest to the iPhone's smoothness; I haven't used a OnePlus device, maybe somebody can confirm that.

All I know is that I came away yet again reassured what phone is still the absolute gold standard when it comes UI smoothness. It's the iPhone.

 

[Akinom]

I have to wonder - if a device compels you to post here talking about how great it is, what prevented you from making the switch? I purchased a 15 PM in December after using Pixels for years, and I don't see myself going back any time soon.

 

[0423MAC]

I think it's all optimization and the fact that Apple doesn't have that wide a configuration to account for when making updates. Apple might make some boneheaded decisions at times, but you generally have a top of the line CPU, a good amount of RAM, fast internal storage and top or near top of the line components in every single device you purchase.

Devs have also debated if it's how the render loop is outside of how apps are handled, but I don't think that's the case as going back using older iPhones with an outdated OS with apps that still continue to get updates start feeling a bit more janky.

Someone who works down in those levels would have to chime in.

 

[maerz001]

I think it's all optimization and the fact that Apple doesn't have that wide a configuration to account for when making updates. Apple might make some boneheaded decisions at times, but you generally have a top of the line CPU, a good amount of RAM, fast internal storage and top or near top of the line components in every single device you purchase.

Devs have also debated if it's how the render loop is outside of how apps are handled, but I don't think that's the case as going back using older iPhones with an outdated OS with apps that still continue to get updates start feeling a bit more janky.

Someone who works down in those levels would have to chime in.

Regarding good amount of RAM and fast storage i guess u don’t spend much time in the MacBook forum

 

[Cod3rror]

I have to wonder - if a device compels you to post here talking about how great it is, what prevented you from making the switch? I purchased a 15 PM in December after using Pixels for years, and I don't see myself going back any time soon.

Simple, features.

- You can't side-load apps on iOS.
- No split screen.
- No floating apps.
- No high-res Bluetooth codecs.
- No ability to access Wi-Fi analysing and scanning information.
- I like Android's media picker integration with apps.
- No system-wide ad blocking.
- I like Android's navigation and notification system more.
- And so on...

Although, Google is limiting Android with each update and trying to make it like iOS. If they make it like iOS, I will just switch to the iPhone.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

- No system-wide ad blocking.

This isn't entirely true anymore. Apps on iOS can now set DNS configurations, so one could use Adguard's DNS or set up NextDNS to block ads, just like one can do on Android.

 

[0423MAC]

Regarding good amount of RAM and fast storage i guess u don’t spend much time in the MacBook forum

Oh I do. What Apple is selling as a "Pro" laptop with 8GB RAM at $1,600/$1,800 in 2024 is abhorrent.

8GB for iOS and iPadOS is fine because it's not exactly multi-tasking to the degree one would do on a Mac. I suppose things are about to change however as AI becomes ever increasingly important for the iPhone and iPad.

Recently using an iPhone SE 3rd gen you do start to feel a little bit of that sluggishness as one would expect with 4GB RAM and refresh rate lower than found on current apple flagships. Likely still snappier than a recent version of android struggling with a device that has 4GB RAM due to the fact that the CPU/GPU inside those handsets are probably much slower than the A15 found on the SE.