iPhone vs Android: Which smartphone ecosystem is best for you?

When it comes to choosing a new smartphone, the most fundamental question you need to ask yourself is this: do I want an iPhone or Android phone? Having tested all of the best smartphones on the market, we are well positioned to help you answer that question.

Between the two of them, Apple and Google have the phone business all but sewn up. This has been a two horse race at least since Microsoft exited the market in 2017, and realistically since well before that, in terms of pure market share.

Below, we’ll be breaking down the differences between iPhone and Android when it comes to user interface and apps, hardware options, and pricing. We’ll also look at which platform is best for gamers and photographers.

Before we get to that, however, let’s nail down what we mean when we talk about iPhone and Android, and how it differs from popular perception.

What we mean when we talk about iPhone and Android

When most people talk about ‘iPhone or Android’ in the same sentence, they tend to mean Apple smartphones and Google smartphones. In this sense, it would be more accurate to say ‘iPhone or Android phone’.

The term ‘iPhone’ is a catch-all for any Apple-branded smartphone. ‘Android’, on the other hand, is the name of Google’s mobile operating system. One term relates to hardware, the other software.

More comparable to the term ‘iPhone’, then, would be Samsung’s Galaxy range of smartphones, or Google’s own Pixel line. Meanwhile, ‘Android’ is more akin to ‘iOS’, which is the name of Apple’s smartphone operating system.

This confusion over terminology reflects the fact that iPhone and Android represent fundamentally different approaches to hardware and software.

iPhone vs Android: Hardware

In a sense, it’s OK to conflate iPhone hardware and iOS software because Apple makes both. You can’t have one without the other.

Conversely, while every Android phone runs Google software, relatively few Android devices are made by Google. The search giant built Android as an open operating system that any third party phone maker can use.

The result of this is that there are simply far more Android phones than there are iPhones, with Android accounting for around 70 percent of the smartphone market.

This also makes direct comparisons between iPhone and Android quite difficult. Apple makes exclusively premium phones, with even its ‘affordable’ iPhone SE phones essentially being made up of older premium components. They all tend to subscribe to a unified design language, albeit one that tends to be refreshed every three or four years.

Android phones, by contrast, come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from iPhone-rivalling premium phones (aka flagships) to cheap and cheerful budget phones with plastic constructions and running on relatively humble components.

Winner: Android

It’s a numbers game here and Android simply offers much greater diversity and caters to a much larger sector than Apple does, with excellent handsets available for people on all budgets. There’s also the point of design to take into consideration; with so many different manufacturers producing Android phones, you can end up with starkly different styles, giving people a greater breadth of choice for how they want their smartphone to look.

iPhone vs Android: Software

It’s a similar situation when it comes to software, with way more uniformity on the Apple side of the equation. All new iPhones run on the exact same version of iOS, with the same UI and the same preinstalled apps.

That’s not the case with Android. While all Android phones have Google’s OS at their core, the precise version they run can vary quite a lot. More importantly, they can look and feel totally different, as Google allows phone makers to tweak and customise its OS with bespoke user interfaces (UIs).

Some manufacturers (like Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo) lean into this leeway with heavily modified interfaces. Other manufacturers (such as Motorola, Sony and Asus) tend to stick closer to ‘stock’ Android.

Unlike with the iPhone, almost every Android phone comes with a varying amount of what is colloquially termed ‘bloatware’ – extraneous applications, often from third parties, that come preinstalled.

For these reasons, many view the best version of Android to be the one that you’ll find on the Pixel line of phones. Google’s phones don’t have any obnoxious UI modifications (for obvious reasons) or bloatware.

Google’s latest phones, along with Samsung’s, also have a longer software support guarantee than Apple’s. For a long time, Apple led the way with at least five years of OS upgrades per iPhone, but both Google and Samsung now promise seven years of support.

Winner: iPhone

Comparing iOS to stock Android would potentially yield a different outcome but that’s the point here – there’s no consistency with Android launchers. Different manufacturers tweak the OS to different degrees, producing wildly different user experiences and usually adding a grab bag of unwanted preinstalled apps. Google and Samsung definitely tip the scales with the extended software support but there’s simply too many variables in the Android software to not give this one to Apple.

iPhone vs Android: App stores

Besides whatever preinstalled applications come with each phone, both iPhone and Android phones come with access to their own app stores. Both the App Store (iOS) and the Google Play Store are among the strongest and most comprehensive digital storefronts on the market.

When it comes to comparisons, it would be an exaggeration to say that it’s quality over quantity. It’s certainly true that the Google Play Store has more applications than the App Store (2.6 million vs 1.8 million, approximately). It’s equally true that Apple’s selection is more tightly curated, with the Google Play Store playing host to more apps of dubious quality.

However, in broad terms, most major services will offer apps of roughly equivalent quality on both the App Store and the Google Play Store. There is the odd high profile omission or compatibility issue, chiefly favouring iOS, most obviously on the gaming front (more on that later) but there’s broad parity.

It’s also worth pointing out that Android offers access to third party app stores, and enables you to ‘side-load’ applications (i.e. install them directly without an App Store middle-man). This means you can install certain applications that don’t meet Google’s Play Store stipulations, and even those where the developer has fallen out with Google (again, see the gaming section).

Winner: Draw

As such, there’s no real winner here. Or, perhaps just two winners. Both app stores stock all the most popular apps, so you won’t miss out on your favourites no matter which you choose, and offer a wide variety of apps, games and services beyond that. 

iPhone vs Android: Pricing

There’s no such thing as a cheap iPhone. As we’ve mentioned, Apple exclusively makes premium handsets. The cheapest iPhone option at the time of writing is the iPhone SE 3 (2022) at £429, which is close to the average price of an Android phone.

Not that buying Android means cheaping out. There’s simply a much wider range in the Android market. You can spend £1,749 on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, or £338 on a Samsung Galaxy A35 5G, to name just one manufacturer.

Key to Android’s appeal in recent years has been the emergence of a strong mid-range market. While iPhones and flagship Android phones have hit the four-figure mark, extremely capable phones like the Pixel 8a and the Samsung Galaxy A55 5G offer a flagship-approximating experience for less than £500.

The aforementioned iPhone SE can be seen as Apple’s somewhat half-hearted response to such a trend, but it now feels somewhat dated in its design, camera, battery and display. If you want a cheaper iPhone, your only real option is the refurbished market.

Winner: Android

Because of course it is. At the top end of the market, the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and Google are priced near-enough identically to their Apple-produced counterparts but that only accounts for a relatively small part of the market. And Android phones have come a long way in the past few years, meaning that you can get a whole lot of quality for half the price of a new iPhone. With that kind of mid-market in play, the reasons to focus solely on the flagship range are getting fewer by the year.

iPhone vs Android: Which is best for photography?

For a while there, Apple appeared to have cracked the photography code, and the best camera phone each year invariably turned out to be an iPhone. That’s no longer the case, and any self-respecting Android flagship phone will pack an equally  brilliant camera system.

While the iPhone 15 Pro Max still provides one of the very best photographic experiences on the market, we could say the same about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the Google Pixel 8 Pro and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

Almost any modern flagship phone of this calibre will shoot quick, sharp and vibrant shots in all lighting conditions. They will also provide high-quality ultrawide landscape shots, as well as excellent zoomed in shots.

Thanks to advances in machine learning and AI, such phones will now let you manipulate the resulting images to make them brighter, clearer, or more artistically pleasing.

Again, where Android has made a big impression in recent years is further down the market. Even modestly priced phones can now take very good photos, such as the £449 Pixel 7a or the £349 Nothing Phone (2a).

Winner: Draw

Technically speaking, our favourite camera phone, at the time of writing, is an Android handset, but Apple also features heavily on that list and realistically, you’re not exactly going to be disappointed with the photography if you choose an iPhone 15 Pro Max over a Google Pixel 8 Pro. Android has the slight advantage that it offers excellent cameras at much lower prices (the iPhone SE 3’s single rear lens is looking quite lonely these days) but it’s not enough to swing this one away from a tie.

iPhone vs Android: Which is best for gaming?

It depends what sort of gaming you’re talking about. Both iPhone and Android phones are excellent gaming devices, with powerful components and access to thousands upon thousands of games.

Apple’s iPhone line offers arguably the best gaming-optimised platform, thanks to the high level of performance from its custom processors, exemplary legacy support from Apple and the relatively small number of available devices for which optimisation is required.

Meanwhile the App Store offers a stable, well-run shop front for such apps. It’s been proven that iPhone users spend more money on the App Store than Android users do on the Google Play Store, which is music to game makers’ ears.

All of this has combined to produce a number of high-profile gaming exclusives that either come to Android late or not at all. In recent times, that list has included full-blown console games like Resident Evil 4 Remake, Death Stranding and Assassin’s Creed Mirage.

Elsewhere, while both Apple and Google run subscription gaming services, Apple Arcade is superior to Google Play Games. While the latter gives you access to a number of pre-existing titles for a monthly fee, Apple’s service includes a number of bespoke and commissioned games – although this has dried up somewhat of late.

Android has its own unique gaming strengths, however. Going back to that point about the range of Android hardware, a couple of manufacturers make dedicated gaming-focused phones. The likes of the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro and the Red Magic 9 Pro provide great performance, custom cooling solutions and built-in hardware controls.

The more open Android ecosystem, with its ability to side-load applications, also means that Google’s platform is the better choice for emulation. You can play a whole heap of retro games on an Android phone if you’re willing to dig around on the internet.

This open nature also means that you can play arguably the biggest game of the past decade in Fortnite on Android. You’ll need to mess around with sub-optimal streaming services if you want to play it on an iPhone.

Winner: Draw

This nearly wasn’t a draw but gaming is such a varied hobby that it’s entirely reasonable to think that there will be those who care far more about easy access to Fortnite or emulated games than they do about getting AAA console releases on their iPhone. Both approaches have their pros and cons, to the point where they hit a respectable deadlock.

iPhone vs Android: Verdict

It feels like something of a cop out to say but Android phones and iPhones do offer such different experiences that it’s not as clear cut as one being better than the other. Apple’s iPhones offer a streamlined and carefully crafted software experience that seamlessly interacts with other Apple products in a way that Android has yet to fully match. Not to mention it has some of the fastest processors around and generally excellent camera systems.

Conversely, Android phones are more readily available to those on lower budgets and offer a greater level of diversity, both in terms of hardware and software experience. If your budget doesn’t stretch to full-fat flagship phones, Android is the only name you need to bear in mind. The iPhone SE 3 (2022) is still decent but it simply can’t compete with the myriad affordable handsets that the Android market offers.

So if you prefer your phones under the £500 mark, Android is the way to go. If you like to go for the latest and greatest models, both Apple iPhones and Android phones have their appeal. Check out our regularly updated list of the best smartphones on the market to see which is right for you.