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iPhone vs. Android: How to choose the best smartphone for you

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I don’t care that your favorite tech expert says only an idiot would buy an iPhone. Or that your friend in IT swears the other guy is a dolt and her Android phone is the best of the best. That’s not choosing a piece of technology, it’s choosing a tribe. If you want to make a logical choice between an iPhone and an Android phone — based on the technical specs — I have to start by saying there is no one right answer.

The simple truth — tribe allegiance and marketing genius aside — is that iPhones running iOS and smartphones running the Android OS both have good and bad points. And to make matters more complicated, comparing operating systems alone doesn’t tell you much.

iPhone 13 display

Apple’s iPhone 13.

With iPhones, the operating system and hardware are tied at the hip. With Android phones, it’s a different story. There is such an enormous difference between Android smartphone models that comparing the iPhone 13 with, say, an excellent budget Android smartphone, such as 2020’s Moto G Power, is like comparing apples (ahem) and oranges. A better current comparison would be the brand new Samsung Galaxy S22 or the Google Pixel 6 line.

So, when I weigh this choice, I consider the operating system while accounting for the differences between phone models. You can’t compare these two phone systems without recognizing the hardware differences.

That said, here’s how Apple and Android phones match up on 14 key aspects of the smartphone experience.

1. Ease of use

People love to say Apple products, “just work.” It’s certainly true that the iOS interface is easy to use. But so is the Android interface. Frankly, if you can use one, you won’t have trouble using the other.

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