Android and iOS: Battle of Dominance and Popularity

Android and iOS indeed continue to be the operating systems which dominate people’s mobile phones, especially in the recent years. Both platforms have their respective highlight, and those features are bound to let the users go through difference in experience.

Android and iOS currently stand at 99.7% on the current smartphone market and are expected to increase in the future. Both operating systems offer to users a good experience and they will have unique characteristics. The comparison between Android and iOS became the center of the topics mostly discussed today. In this article, let’s find out some special functions and the difference of those systems.

Most mobile producers always try to create new modern devices, harmoniously fitting to different designs, colorways, and qualities for us to choose from, especially nowadays that most of the users find it easy to update their phone to a new model or OS version. However, people often choose phones with full functions and high durability to maximize use through the years. Knowing those demands, Android and iOS producers always try to update to the latest trends, OR make their own trends, to bring their customers a great and advanced experience.

Apple is the company with the highest average selling price on the market. The current iPhones are quite expensive, even if some models cost thousands of dollars. Therefore, to use iOS, one has to spend quite a lot to get the update one needs, and be at par with technological advancement through Apple. Meanwhile, Android smartphones are famous for their diversity in models and dominance in different brands. If one needs to spend just a small amount of money but needs to get his/her phone updated, this platform has been optimized to be able to run on low-cost devices. Therefore, Android is considered most commonly used operating system because it covers almost all brands except for Apple. Currently, there are about 3.5 million Android apps on the Google Play Store and 2.2 million iOS apps on the App Store. However, accuracy of dominance does not reflect on these numbers alone if one is trying to compare the popularity of the two. This is because the few top applications and the most common ones are made available on both platforms. Another factor to consider when skimming through the two operating systems is that Google Play Store has a higher rate of free apps than the ones the App Store houses. Moreover, iOS is a lucrative platform for developers, so new applications, especially the best mobile games, tend to appear on the App Store first, followed by a version on Android. Sometimes, it could also be seen that apps appearing on iOS are unlikely to have a version on Android. Apple’s stringent policies requires applications on the App Store to be compatible with the operating system platform.

Downloading and installing apps on Android is relatively easy compared to iOS. If one wants more app options, Android is the best option. When it comes to customization, this has always been one of the outstanding strengths of Android. Android manufacturers allow users to easily customize their phone, you can reset the layout on the home screen, add widgets and shortcuts, even if you can change the entire user interface. For iOS, this operating system has less customization. Users utilize what is already set and laid on the device. Therefore, if one want to have a fully-customized or personalized interface, then Android is the choice to choose. On the other hand, Apple is well-known for securing user and device information especially through Touch ID and Face ID technology. Apple’s close monitoring of the app store and faster updates give the operating system a clear advantage over Android. Otherwise, Google exploits user data to use for advertising purposes on Android devices. Although Android also encrypts some data, the user’s privacy is still somewhat compromised. the introduction of Android will help reduce smartphone prices, and eventually create smartphone market diversity. Android phones have brands and prices to choose from.

Ultimately, when one chooses a mobile phone for oneself, one of the most important things to remember when purchasing a new phone is how one’s needs are going to be solved by the features, considering the budget as well. Security or access to apps? It is one’s decision to make.