Call it a silly fight all you want – but the ever-present feud of Apple and Android isn’t going away as long as both exist. As a previously devout Apple lover who recently got an Android smartphone much to the horror of my well-intentioned family (Chase, it’s the apple ecosystem), here are my thoughts.

It isn’t so much that Android is simply superior than iOS; it’s a little more complicated than that. It’s just – what is Apple doing? It seems like each iPhone release event is hyped up, with speculation about a notch-less iPhone, a fresh new design, a foldable – just so Apple can release the virtually same phone and talk for an hour about how great it is that the cameras are positioned diagonally now (I see you, iPhone 13).

“But Chase,” I hear you Apple fans saying there in the back, “when you buy an iPhone, it’s just that you know what you’re getting.” I get that, I really do, but is that really what you want? Just the bare minimum, never wanting anything really special? Close your eyes and think back to October 2020: the release of the iPhone 12. They made the sides of the iPhone flat and everybody freaked out like they put a headphone jack back.

Yes, the iPhone has had its moments. iPhone X was a huge update, but it’s been really the only major update in the 10+ years of its existence. By comparison, take Android.

Because many companies use Android (for those of you confused, Android is the name of a software that anybody can adopt and put in a phone, not a specific company that produces phones), we’ll take Samsung, maybe the most prominent Android phone manufacturer now. They have a phone that has a pen stored within it. They have phones that can fold: one down into the size of a wallet and one up into a tablet. None of their phones have that obtrusive notch at the top. Other than Samsung’s phones, Google’s Pixel 6, released soon, is going to include a new AI-enhanced chip that should blow everything else out of the water. Now that’s what I call innovation, especially when placed side-by-side with Apple’s flat sides (wow, I say sarcastically). And it’s made possible because anybody can use and modify Android in any way they wish, instead of iOS where one niche company has the rights to it so if you want iOS, you’re stuck with Apple’s way or the highway. 

Except Android doesn’t get much love for some reason, especially here at Yorba Linda High. When I walked into class on Thursday, finally holding the privilege to put a phone into one of those little phone pockets (you know the ones), people around me gasped. “Samsung? Eww.” “Why not an iPhone?” And when I gave out my number, the inevitable “Your texts are green.”

Yes, yes they are.

It seems like the point is conceded that Android does more, but the majority of people still prefer Apple. Qinyu Ni (11), said, “I had an Android for 4 years before and it’s easier to customize. Also, the cameras are more advanced.” 

Quite honestly, I had no idea what would happen when I broke out of the Apple ecosystem. I have a MacBook, which was my family’s answer to me not having a phone when all of my friends did – I could text, with limits, on it. Not one single person in my extended family has an Android. As of now, everything’s been fine so far and I can even FaceTime my family through a new iOS update. Nothing’s really changed, except that my phone folds.

It all begs the question: Why not switch?