These contentions that “Android will soon destroy Apple” and “Apple will totally obliterate Android” are old games. Aren’t we getting tired these statements? Year after year, prophets of doom from both camps prophesy the death of the other ecosystem on a regular basis – but it still hasn’t happened. It’s about time that people – both Android and Apple fans – become ok with that. And by “that”, we mean co-existence.
Recently, there have been downward trends in Apple’s iPhone sales. Actually, we have to put that in perspective. They still earned tons of money – only that the pile of money this past 2 quarters were smaller piles than that of the same quarters the year before. For most people, we’d call a pile of money a huge win in any situation. But this is Apple we’re talking about – they’re used to their pile of money being bigger than most, and bigger than the rest. A decrease in their profit is cause for concern.
To put that in context, we’re talking about Apple’s USD$50.6 billion profit in Q2 of 2016 which is lower by 12.8 percent than the USD$58 billion in the same quarter last year. Everyone and their mother is already pointing to the doom of Tim Cook. But that shouldn’t fool us into thinking that Apple is in trouble and that Android is ready to stamp iOS out of existence.
First up, a lot of tech reports are saying one specific thing – smartphone saturation worldwide is nearing its peak. This means that almost everybody has a smartphone and not everyone will necessarily jump at the newest model that comes out from Apple. Or Samsung. Or Sony. Or any other manufacturer for that matter. This means that we’ve already reached a certain level of technological saturation and new flagship models need to make stronger arguments for people to actually go out and buy them.
So sales numbers are predicted going to start trending down for everybody, not just Apple. If you look at Samsung or LG’s numbers, you will see the small blips downward as well. You will understand why Samsung is keen on introducing new technology like “edgy” screens and all that, and LG came out with their semi-modular approach to the LG G5 – they want to present new things to consumers, because simply putting out a regular old flagship without a strong argument will not be enough.
This is also why people are saying that Apple’s iPhone 7 will need to be spectacular. This argument has two facets – first is that Apple needs to show that it can compete with the multitude of new features Android is coming out with. And in this sense, Android has an edge, because while Google is taking care of the software side, manufacturers are also making sure that Android phones shine hardware-wise. Secondly, Apple needs to show that they have something new in the pipeline, and that they are still continually thinking of innovative technology for their customers.
This is where my Android bias will show, being a true blue Android apologist. I still believe that in the end, Android will come out on top – with the tweakability and adaptability of the platform just giving consumers more than what Apple could give. But in Apple’s defense, there will always be people who want the simplicity and the “pick up and use it” stance of their devices. Some people will always eschew the technical complexity of Android for something easier to use – there will always be room for that.
So in the next few years, I will expect Android to start showing its dominance in the world market – with the features and new things you can do on an Android device, I feel this is inevitable. But there will always be a certain portion of the market that will be convinced that an iOS device is all they need. It’s time we start acknowledging that this is a fact, and that it is ok.
Great article Mr. Hoff and very valid points.
I mostly agree with you. Where we disagree is when you try to make the case for android handset technical superiority going forward. First and foremost, android has historically been behind iPhone in bringing new hardware functionality to the mainstream. I’m not saying Apple did these things first, but they popularized fingerprint reading on smartphones, 64-bit processing, and 3D Touch. To name a few.
Secondly, fragmentation is still a huge problem for android. One only needs to take a look at how fewer and fewer android phones are updated to the latest OS software with each passing year. Google may be able to incorporate some clever search and “AI” tricks via the Play Store, but until they get a majority of android phones on the same page in terms of OS updates, Google will be hamstrung with android from a hardware point of view. Bloggers and android fans were thrilled at the prospect of android N supporting an android version of 3D Touch in the latest mobile OS release, but that didn’t happen. Who knows when it will, most of the zillions of android phone don’t even have fingerprint readers, only the high end flagships do.
“First and foremost, android has historically been behind iPhone in
bringing new hardware functionality to the mainstream. I’m not saying
Apple did these things first, but they popularized fingerprint reading
on smartphones, 64-bit processing, and 3D Touch. To name a few.”
3D Touch is popular? With who? I will give Apple fingerprint readers, encryption and 64 bit CPUs. But Android devices supported 3G and 4G/LTE for YEARS before the iPhone did, along with multiple bands/carriers. Android devices also supported NFC and mobile payments years before Apple did. Android devices support external storage, which iOS devices still do not. Android devices had 2K screens while iOS was still 720p; now several support 4K while iOS is just getting to 1080p. Android devices have also supported multi-tasking, multi-windows operation and native stylus support for years, with Apple only adding those in 2015. For that reason, Apple is only just now surpassing 1GB of RAM and dual core CPUs. Add to that Android was the first to support IoT devices, wearables, you name it. Oh yes, and iOS devices still do not support multiple user accounts, and probably never will. (Many third party apps support multiple user accounts, but the devices themselves do not, and neither do first party Apple apps and services.) So essentially, the only areas where Apple enjoyed a hardware advantage over Android was 64 bit and security features like encryption and fingerprint scanners. And even there, Android has surpassed iOS with iris scanners on several devices, including the next Samsung phone.
“but until they get a majority of android phones on the same page in
terms of OS updates, Google will be hamstrung with android from a
hardware point of view”
Meanwhile, older Apple devices that receive the iOS updates are just hamstrung. They lack the new hardware features supported by the OS, and they run VERY SLOW because devices with 1 GB of RAM and 4 year old processors do not perform well on an OS designed to run on the latest processors. If these old Apple devices had more RAM, they would be able to handle the OS updates better. There was no reason not to do it because RAM is very cheap. But Apple was determined to retain their “we do not need all this RAM because iOS is so much more efficient than poorly designed Android” that they did not take care of their customers by future-proofing the VERY EXPENSIVE devices. Essentially, the high update rates of older iOS hardware makes great PR and talking points for iOS fans, but in the real world is just spin. If your iOS device is more than 2 years old, you actually are better off turning off updates. With that being A FACT, Google’s ability to push critical security and other updates like instant apps to devices going way back to 4.0 is a bonus. With Google, your old devices can get a lot of new features and still work. With Apple, getting the new features means rendering your old device unusable.
“Bloggers and android fans were thrilled at the prospect of android N
supporting an android version of 3D Touch in the latest mobile OS
release, but that didn’t happen.”
This, er, never happened. No one in the Android sphere cared about 3D touch. And based on the poor sales reception of the iPhone 6s (far less than the iPhone 5s and 4s and even the 5c) Apple fans didn’t care about force touch either. No one is talking about 3D touch at all even on your own blogs and sites, other than to mention a new app supporting it every now and then. Samsung considered implementing their own version of 3D touch, decided that the feature wasn’t a big deal and passed. Yet, Samsung’s new phones are their best sellers in 3 years. Imagine that! Google did the same. They decided that stuff like VR, IoT and multi-window were more important than 3D touch. And as for “who knows” … Google has already said that it will come in Android 7.1. If history is any indication, new Android major releases come in 3Q, then *.01 minor releases with bug fixes and patches come in 4Q with the *.1 release with new features comes in 1Q, then a *.1.1 release with bug fixes and patches by 2Q, and then the work on the next major release goes into full swing. But this year, Google is going to have the next major release about 6 weeks early in order to accommodate Samsung’s desire to release the Galaxy Note in August, where in the past they would launch the Galaxy Note in October. So, the 7.1 release with 3D touch could come as early as December of this year.
“most of the zillions of android phone don’t even have fingerprint readers, only the high end flagships do.”
The Asus Zenfone costs $199 and has a fingerprint reader. Just as tons of Android phones that cost less than $500 have NFC and support Android Pay. Look, fingerprint reader support is primarily a function of the SOC that is being used. Both Qualcomm and MediaTek (the 2 biggest CPU providers for Android) have mid-range chips that support fingerprint readers, as did Intel before they left the mobile market. Now while not all manufacturers enable the functionality for every device that has a fingerprint-scanner in the SOC, the truth is that the only Android devices that lack fingerprint reader support as a rule are the very cheap ones.
Your reads typical of that of an Apple fan’s approach towards Android: a complete lack of knowledge of the hardware, software and manufacturers beyond a superficial awareness of Samsung Galaxy devices, and highlighting the weaknesses of the platform while totally ignoring its strengths. Which is a real shame. Plenty of Android device owners also own Apple devices, especially MacBooks and even iPads. While little brother Android gets a lot of amusement from poking big brother Apple – primarily because of Apple’s lawsuits against Android as well as the snobby, elitist attitudes by Apple fans, the tech media and even a lot of developers – the truth is that there is far more respect and appreciation from Android fans towards Apple products than vice versa. Which is exceedingly odd since Apple has spent the last 3 years turning their iPhones and iPads into Samsung Galaxy clones. And in 2017 when the iPhone Plus (or Pro or whatever) will have a 5.8′ screen with a curved AMOLED display and a stylus, essentially making it a Samsung Galaxy Note, there will be absolutely no more reason whatsoever to cast any aspersions on Android’s contributions to mobile at all.
So many things wrong with your wall-o-words… FYI I’ve owned many, many android devices, starting with the HTC Dream. I’m a current owner of an N7 LTE and a Nexus 5X. I know Android and iOS way better than your average bear.
“So in the next few years, I will expect Android to start showing its
dominance in the world market – with the features and new things you can
do on an Android device, I feel this is inevitable.”
Honestly, this will not happen until and unless Google starts acting like a consumer products and services company. That is Apple’s big advantage over Google, and before them Microsoft: Apple’s focus always has been (or was before their recent drift) providing the best possible products to (a very small subset of at times!) users. Microsoft and Google, by contrast, weren’t concerned with the consumer side of their products at all. Microsoft just supplied the OS and the software, and relied on IBM, Dell, HP and the rest to actually make and support PCs (and yes mobile phones) for consumers. As for Google, they aren’t even Microsoft, whose revenue revolves around making a product – software – giving them an incentive to make sure that the product works as well as possible. Instead, Google’s revenue comes from ads. If that ad revenue is generated on Android and Chrome OS devices? That is good. But if it comes from iOS, OS X or Windows devices – and most of it does … Google gets more money from Windows PCs and iOS mobile devices than they do Android – that is good too. Another thing: if Google makes an improvement or adds a new feature to Android that does not increase ad revenue then it isn’t worth their time. Google only needs to make Android just good enough to keep their manufacturers on board, and to keep Microsoft out of the mobile market. That is why so few features that actually make the devices better for users appear … unless Apple does it first and allows them to copy it.
Until Google stops being an ad company, that is not going to change, and that is also why Google and Android will never beat out a company that actually focuses on making good consumer devices like Apple. And yes, I say this as an Android fan. Most of the reasons why Android devices are good and fun are due to third party developers and device makers. Samsung, LG and the app developers – and working with those people via the Nexus program and the open source community – are responsible for what Android is today. Google, not so much. I am actually hoping that Google loses these anti-trust suits and their ad revenue skydives as a result, because actually needing Android and Chrome OS to survive financially is what would finally force Google to invest the effort that goes into making those platforms succeed. But instead of doing that, we see Chrome and Gmail apps on iPad work far better and have far more features than they do on Android tablets. And we saw it take Google 5 years to give up on their blatant strategy to use Chrome OS as a way to lock people into their search/ad/data business model, and to get people to buy cloud storage subscriptions, and to instead finally work towards turning it into a real OS.
There is good reasons why some people prefer iOS to Android, and if it weren’t for Samsung – who like Apple actually is a consumer products company – allowing Google to put their best TouchWiz features into the native OS (which Samsung did so their devices would perform better) there would be a lot more of them.
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