It’s a good question. I switched from Android to iPhone in 2016, but if you look at my choices, and you think I chose poorly, you’re a damn fool, and I’m 100% confident saying that. Let’s look at my choices:
Samsung Galaxy S7 (and S7 Edge). This was my top choice, but also, the S7 was the last to have the capacitive buttons. And the back button was on the wrong side. So, kind of shit design. I think the S7 was a pretty good phone though.
LG G5. This was a cool phone that had the bottom you could remove to slide the battery out, and there were different bottoms you could install, like a decent/good DAC. This phone was promising but LG was never really high end. I think the G5 was their last big effort to do something good in the Android space.
HTC 10. A friend of mine went through like a dozen of them in a year because the M7 was cool. They couldn’t find him an HTC 10 that wouldn’t brick itself after a week. That phone made him a loyal iPhone guy. (The M8 made me an iPhone user. It didn’t brick, but it needed to be reflashed every couple weeks.)
Motorola Droid Turbo 2. On paper, it was the nicest/coolest one. My wife chose this and hated it. It just ran like shit. Felt nice in the hand, though.
…and the iPhone 6s. I picked this, intending to switch to the S7 while I had 2 weeks to do so. For a day or two I hated it. After one week, I knew I was not going to switch.
A few years ago, I got a Galaxy S10 to put Nova Prime on and just to run emulators and stuff. My main phone is an iPhone 16 Pro Max. I prefer the S10 for typing and customisation. The iPhone is reliable for everything else, plus the screen is gorgeous. Also, I think I can make this iPhone last me 10 years. So I think my next smartphone will be an Android phone, so the S10 can retire. I never disliked Android. I don’t like Google, and I didn’t like some Android phones. The Galaxy S3 was a legend and I like the S10 almost as much as I liked my S3.
But as a guy who has used the iPhone almost exclusively for 10 years… they have absolutely stagnated. They aren’t doing anything new and exciting. I think they hit a wall performance wise, the gains aren’t that great year after year in anything, so they do dumb shit like the foldable one coming out this year (no offence if you like foldables, I mean it’s gonna be less phone for more money but hey, it folds out into a tablet. And costs more than a comparable phone and an iPad Mini.
To be absolutely clear, I’ll keep the iPhone for the health data and the privacy around that. I’ve never heard of a private health feature on Android. Apple’s privacy is questionable, but they claim it, the others don’t. Still, I like what Galaxy has been doing lately, though I don’t much care for AI. It just seems like they do more. And it’s not even the five cameras. I’m also done with premium models. The S24, S25, and S26 models are the only ones I ever considered. The Plus is too big, and the Ultra doesn’t justify its price increase and I don’t want another big phone. So, I might get an S28, S29, S30, somewhere around there. Just the base model. In black. And throw a Spigen ToughArmor and a Flygrip on it and call it a day.
tl;dr: Yes, some iPhone users are tired of the platform’s stagnation, but also, a lot of iPhone users who leave come back because they also love the consistency. (I think they give up too easily. I started with Android, so I know what to expect, and how to make it mine.)
But as a guy who has used the iPhone almost exclusively for 10 years… they have absolutely stagnated. They aren’t doing anything new and exciting. I think they hit a wall performance wise, the gains aren’t that great year after year in anything, so they do dumb shit like the foldable one coming out this year
I think many Android users would argue the same about the major Android phone manufacturers. It’s an industry-wide phenomenon, which I think is also part of the reason we are seeing new and smaller companies entering with very different designs and ideas (Clicks, Minimal, iKKO, Mudita, Sidephone, etc) and a renewed interest from the public in features that had previously fell out of favour (small form factors, physical keyboards, etc). Android smartphones haven’t been this interesting for a long time, despite the lack of innovation from the major players and Google continuing to slowly kill its operating system by a thousand cuts.
It’s a good question. I switched from Android to iPhone in 2016, but if you look at my choices, and you think I chose poorly, you’re a damn fool, and I’m 100% confident saying that. Let’s look at my choices:
Samsung Galaxy S7 (and S7 Edge). This was my top choice, but also, the S7 was the last to have the capacitive buttons. And the back button was on the wrong side. So, kind of shit design. I think the S7 was a pretty good phone though.
LG G5. This was a cool phone that had the bottom you could remove to slide the battery out, and there were different bottoms you could install, like a decent/good DAC. This phone was promising but LG was never really high end. I think the G5 was their last big effort to do something good in the Android space.
HTC 10. A friend of mine went through like a dozen of them in a year because the M7 was cool. They couldn’t find him an HTC 10 that wouldn’t brick itself after a week. That phone made him a loyal iPhone guy. (The M8 made me an iPhone user. It didn’t brick, but it needed to be reflashed every couple weeks.)
Motorola Droid Turbo 2. On paper, it was the nicest/coolest one. My wife chose this and hated it. It just ran like shit. Felt nice in the hand, though.
…and the iPhone 6s. I picked this, intending to switch to the S7 while I had 2 weeks to do so. For a day or two I hated it. After one week, I knew I was not going to switch.
A few years ago, I got a Galaxy S10 to put Nova Prime on and just to run emulators and stuff. My main phone is an iPhone 16 Pro Max. I prefer the S10 for typing and customisation. The iPhone is reliable for everything else, plus the screen is gorgeous. Also, I think I can make this iPhone last me 10 years. So I think my next smartphone will be an Android phone, so the S10 can retire. I never disliked Android. I don’t like Google, and I didn’t like some Android phones. The Galaxy S3 was a legend and I like the S10 almost as much as I liked my S3.
But as a guy who has used the iPhone almost exclusively for 10 years… they have absolutely stagnated. They aren’t doing anything new and exciting. I think they hit a wall performance wise, the gains aren’t that great year after year in anything, so they do dumb shit like the foldable one coming out this year (no offence if you like foldables, I mean it’s gonna be less phone for more money but hey, it folds out into a tablet. And costs more than a comparable phone and an iPad Mini.
To be absolutely clear, I’ll keep the iPhone for the health data and the privacy around that. I’ve never heard of a private health feature on Android. Apple’s privacy is questionable, but they claim it, the others don’t. Still, I like what Galaxy has been doing lately, though I don’t much care for AI. It just seems like they do more. And it’s not even the five cameras. I’m also done with premium models. The S24, S25, and S26 models are the only ones I ever considered. The Plus is too big, and the Ultra doesn’t justify its price increase and I don’t want another big phone. So, I might get an S28, S29, S30, somewhere around there. Just the base model. In black. And throw a Spigen ToughArmor and a Flygrip on it and call it a day.
tl;dr: Yes, some iPhone users are tired of the platform’s stagnation, but also, a lot of iPhone users who leave come back because they also love the consistency. (I think they give up too easily. I started with Android, so I know what to expect, and how to make it mine.)
I think many Android users would argue the same about the major Android phone manufacturers. It’s an industry-wide phenomenon, which I think is also part of the reason we are seeing new and smaller companies entering with very different designs and ideas (Clicks, Minimal, iKKO, Mudita, Sidephone, etc) and a renewed interest from the public in features that had previously fell out of favour (small form factors, physical keyboards, etc). Android smartphones haven’t been this interesting for a long time, despite the lack of innovation from the major players and Google continuing to slowly kill its operating system by a thousand cuts.
De-googled ROM + GadgetBridge. Privacy, and health with privacy. :P