(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)Hardware Choices
Your choice of devices is similar to the options between macOS and Windows computers. Apple's ecosystem has just one hardware vendor, albeit a top-tier one. With Android, however, you are not limited to Google's Pixel line of smartphones: you can choose from dozens of hardware manufacturers with a large price range, quality, and performance levels. Android is an open-source OS (compared with iOS's closed system), so any phone maker can use it. The result is a profusion of Android phones.
You can get a respectable Android phone, like the Samsung Galaxy A15 5G, for under $200. Contrast that with the cheapest new iPhone you can buy, the iPhone SE, which costs $429. On the other end of the spectrum, you can pay significantly more for an Android phone than any iPhone: Some configurations of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 (a great example of the variety available with the Android platform) sell for north of $2,000. The most expensive Apple handset, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, costs $1,599 with 1TB of storage.
There's one final Android-exclusive hardware feature: You can add storage on some Android phones via a microSD card. With iPhones, you're stuck with what Apple offers.
Winner: Android
(Credit: Apple/Google/PCMag)Interface and Usability
Android is a customization-friendly operating system. You can create a comfortable smartphone environment, provided you don't mind digging through menus to get to a desired setting. However, it also has more options than you'll experience using an iPhone. For example, Google's Material You radically updates Google's OS with overhauled color and syncing options, giving your wallpapers and backgrounds a satisfyingly unified look and feel. Thanks to its generative AI, Android lets you create dynamic wallpapers, which makes your home and lock screens pop with impressive holographic effects. Overall, Android takes a more laissez-faire customization approach, and its freedom is extremely refreshing.
Apple has radically upped its customization game with iOS 18. What was once an elegant, albeit limited interface, has burgeoned into a highly customizable menu with free icon and widget placement options and color tinting elements that rival what's seen on Android. Combined with the impressive, multi-layered backgrounds and color schemes and large, well-designed dynamic widget improvements, there's an iPhone interface that you can truly make your own. Android edges out iOS a bit thanks to its more convenient color suggestions and dynamic wallpaper creation, but they are otherwise comparable in features.
Considering that Android is made by Google, it seems strange that the search function on iOS is superior. This is especially noticeable when searching for apps installed on the device. Apple nicely groups results into apps, emails, and contacts and even shows apps not installed, with links to the App Store.
Winner: Tie
(Credit: Eric Zeman)Technology Support
New wireless tech standards appear every year. Android has been the first to welcome these new specs in the last few years. It was the first OS with 5G network support. It also beat Apple with support for wireless charging, 4G LTE, and touchless voice commands. Apple tends to wait until the new technology is useful and reliable.
Android also added support for foldable and dual-screen phones. Since the OS is open source, third parties like Microsoft can add functionality to devices like the Surface Duo 2, an Android device with two screens that display tailored content (rather than just a single screen that spans the two). These technologies haven't always been game-changing features, but there's no doubt that Android handsets are pioneering them.
Artificial intelligence is another blossoming technology that Android and iOS have embraced and employed in their systems. Android devices replace Google Assistant with Gemini, leveraging the AI's powerful knowledgebase to answer your questions, access and open apps for you, translate words and phrases, and even generate content. iOS 18 introduces Apple Intelligence, which offers radically improved generative writing tools across the entire OS. It also introduces Clean Up, which works similarly to Android's Magic Eraser by letting you remove unwanted elements from photos by identifying foreground and background features in a given image. More features, like image generation and Siri assistant improvements, are scheduled for the end of the year.
Winner: Android
(Credit: Google)Included Apps
Apple and Google offer many stock apps that appear on your phone from the moment you first power it up. For example, you'll see software for email, web browsing, photo viewing and editing, audio playing and recording, video playing, and document and spreadsheet editing. Both OSes include apps you cannot uninstall, but they also let you replace stock apps with third-party options. One oversight on the Android side is the lack of a task or to-do app—iOS's Reminders app is slick as can be for this. Google gets partial credit, since it offers the Keep app as an extra download during the phone setup process. It does a good job with to-do lists.
Messaging apps are worth highlighting since messaging is a top smartphone activity. Apple edges ahead of Android here with its robust iMessage app, which includes Animoji, Memoji, payments, games, and the iMessage app store. It has Stickers, an impressively addictive function that lets you transform a photo's subject into a sticker that you slap into any Note or iMessage. You can quickly turn a messaging session into a call or video chat with FaceTime.
However, Android is not far behind iOS. Android Messages use Rich Communication Services (RCS), which has enhanced privacy features like end-to-end encryption for 1-1 conversations. Using Messages in any web browser is a brilliant move by Android, as it lets you easily chat with others while on the desktop. Apple introduced RCS compatibility with iOS 18, finally allowing Android users to send media and messages on equal footing with iPhone users.
Another important included app for any mobile OS is mapping. Google has long been acknowledged as the number-one map service, but Apple has cut that lead down significantly in the last few years with multi-stop routing and transit card integration with the Wallet app. Google is still more thorough and up-to-date with local information, offering full Street View. It has biking, driving, public transportation, and walking directions. Apple has made strides to keep up with the addition of its cycling navigation across all 50 states.
Both offer excellent health monitoring, news, and podcast apps, but the iPhone is better for video editing with iMovie and music creation with GarageBand.
Apple features its own Translate app to compete with the market-dominating Google Translate. The search giant's app offers far more languages than Apple's, along with tools for finding text in photos—particularly important for languages with an alphabet you're unfamiliar with.
Apple has radically enhanced the functionality of its Live Text feature for photos, giving iOS its text-recognition capabilities for images and video. This technology recognizes the photo subjects, letting you highlight, copy, or search text and isolate and save elements from a photo.
Winner: iOS
(Credit: Google/PCMag)Third-Party Apps
In the past, apps first arrived on iOS and eventually made their way to Android. That's still the case with Adobe, which launched the Photoshop tablet version on Apple hardware. That makes sense, since Android is fairly moribund in the tablet arena. But a few apps now come to Android first.
Another important differentiator is that Android lets you install software from non-Google app stores (or side-load them, bypassing the store). Another convenience you won't find in Apple's store is the ability to remotely install apps onto your phone via the web. Say you see an app in an article you're reading on your laptop. If it's Android, you can simply visit the Play Store's website and install it from there. With iOS, you must install the app using the device.
Winner: Android
(Credit: Opensignal/PCMag)Availability and Fragmentation
If you buy an iPhone, you can be assured that it will receive the latest iOS updates for at least several years. Android's updates are becoming more widespread, but the're still behind iOS on this count. To complicate matters, Android's OS updates typically launch exclusively on Google Pixel devices. Samsung and other smartphones get the respective update weeks or months later, leading to further fragmentation.
Neither company's developer site reveals the market share of the recently released versions. According to 9to5Google, the most popular version of Android, Android 13, runs on approximately 21% of devices. On the other hand, last year's iOS 17 was installed on 86% of iPhones, making iOS adoption an order of magnitude greater than that of Android.
Why is this a problem? There are multiple Android versions because the OS is open source and runs on many different devices. This leads to inconsistencies in development, management, and security. Security is a concern because such disparate Android support makes it harder to ensure compliance and data protection.
Because manufacturers also heavily customize Android devices, getting all the best features on a single device can be difficult. It's common to see OnePlus, Pixel, and Samsung devices with tools that aren't standardized on Android OS until much later. For example, Samsung introduced Single Take back in 2020, a camera function that uses AI to take multiple photos and create a composite of the best shots. Google introduced Best Take, a similar function, in 2023, but only on Pixel 8 and newer models.
Winner: iOS
(Credit: Google/PCMag)Privacy and Security
The mobile operating systems have decent records and safeguards regarding security, but Android, being more open, has more vectors for malware to enter your phone. In particular, apps are more prone to bring trouble in Android, especially if you install them from an alternative app store.
Privacy has been a focus in recent Android versions, with several new protections against third-party app abuses. For example, apps ask for permission before sending you notifications. Android lets you grant one-time access to location and other private data, but iOS lets you tell apps your approximate rather than exact location. Since Google's entire business model revolves around gathering information about each user, it's hard for the search ad company to compete with Apple, whose profit model doesn't involve surveillance or profiling. All this is not to say that privacy-compromising apps can't appear on iPhones, too.
Android also has Private Space, a PIN-secured hidden drawer in your app drawer that lets you stash sensitive apps and data (banking, dating, etc). It is essentially a digital safe that others can't access. You can link a Private Space to a second Google account for more security, creating a second profile for your Android device. Apps moved to Private Space don't appear in your app list, notifications, recently viewed apps section, or settings.
That said, Apple's closed-source nature, device ubiquity, and support still make iOS the best choice for security.
Winner: iOS
(Credit: Apple)Integration With Other Devices
Both OSes feature cross-device support, but Apple leads the charge here. For example, Apple's Continuity Camera transforms your iPhone into a webcam for your Mac. Likewise, Handoff lets you start work on one Apple device and pick up where you left off on another.
Apple's Continuity features are hard to beat, but thanks to the Windows Phone Link app and Android cross-device connectivity, you can connect with PCs just as effectively as iPhones connect with Macs. That even includes making calls. These capabilities depend on your phone model, with Samsung handsets getting preference. In addition, Google has made notable app-streaming improvements. You can now stream apps between Android devices and Chromebooks, letting you respond to notifications or seamlessly surf YouTube. This new feature isn't quite as robust or polished as Apple's Continuity, but it's a step in the right direction.
Apple's device ecosystem includes far more than just laptops and phones, though. iOS ties in neatly with Apple Watch, Apple TV, the HomePod smart speaker, and iPads (which run their own iPadOS operating system). Google has its equivalents, but they lack Apple's shine. However, the Google Nest line generally exceeds Apple's Siri-powered devices in PCMag's ratings (and third-party Google Assistant speakers are available from Bose and Sonos).
Winner: iOS
(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)Camera and Photos
Smartphone cameras—and maybe just as importantly, their photo-processing apps—have recently been a focus for new smartphone and mobile OS releases. In either system, you can find excellent camera options (including multiple-camera systems). Don't get bogged down in megapixels, however: Even though you can find Android phones with super-high megapixel numbers—the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra can shoot at a whopping 200 megapixels—that number is less important than the camera sensor. For a detailed analysis, read PCMag.com's comparison of the best smartphone cameras.
The OSes also have impressive photo enhancement software to make your pictures look even better than the sensor and lenses are capable of by themselves. Both can add bokeh (background blur) to a portrait and offer slow-motion, panorama, low-light, and time-lapse shooting. Android lets you create 360-degree photos, while iOS users need a secondary app for this function. Otherwise, Android and iOS are close regarding photo functionality.
Android uses Google Lens to help you identify items, shop online, translate text, and scan documents. iOS taps its expanded Live Text function to the same end, bringing that feature to video. Your iPhone can also recognize image subjects. Called Visual Look Up, this feature identifies objects and subjects in a photograph, letting you isolate them from their background to use as a separate image or sticker. It also provides additional information about the subject, pulled from the web.
Both OSes let you save raw camera files, which photographers will no doubt appreciate, so you no longer need third-party apps like the excellent Adobe Lightroom Classic app (which is available on both platforms).
AI functionality has also made its mark in Photos. Android lets you touch up and remove photo elements using Clean Up and Magic Eraser. Though one is not necessarily better than the other, Magic Eraser excels at removing unwanted larger objects, while Clean Up delivers more polished overall results.
Winner: Tie
(Credit: Google/PCMag)Voice Assistant
Apple's Siri and Google Assistant let you perform actions using your voice. Both are easy to invoke and offer a wake word.
Siri has improved at following your speech if you misspeak or change your inquiry mid-sentence. It can answer device-specific questions without automatically referring you to the web, which was a particular nuisance with earlier iterations. Siri also offers more natural and less robotic voice options that are easier on the ears.
Siri offers Automations and Shortcuts. Automations launch actions based on triggers like your location or the weather. Shortcuts are multistep actions. Google Assistant claims more than a million actions, including asking it to play a particular show on Netflix or order a skinny latte at Starbucks. Both assistants tie into rich smart home ecosystems (Android with Google Home and Siri with Apple HomeKit devices), so you can rest assured that you'll be able to turn up the heat, raise the shades, or open the garage door—assuming you have all the requisite smart appliances.
Google Assistant displays more intelligence, albeit with less personality. It lets you control a TV with a Chromecast, and the company just released a new model with a Google TV interface based on Android TV that also ties in with the voice assistant. You can also use Google Assistant or Google Home on an iPhone, but you can use Siri only on Apple products.
One final point: You can upgrade Google Assistant to the AI-powered Google Gemini. In fact, Gemini is the default assistant on Pixel 9 devices. Though still fairly nascent, it gives you potent generative writing tools and image creation capabilities. Android takes the lead here, but Siri 2.0 may change the game in the coming months.
Winner: Android
(Credit: Apple/PCMag)Parental Controls
Android and iOS have strong parental controls, but the biggest difference is that the former lets you install third-party parental control software more easily and completely. That said, iOS offers deeper built-in parental controls.
According to Apple's support pages, you can use its Screen Time feature to "block or limit specific apps and features on your child's device" and "restrict the settings on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch for explicit content, purchases and downloads, and privacy." As its name suggests, you can keep tabs on how much time a child spends on apps and the web. You can also view detailed reports on all activity. Parents can configure limits for children using the Family Sharing feature, and lock them down with a passcode that only the parent knows. They can also set communications limits, only allowing calls, messages, and Facetimes with set contacts.
When you set up an Android phone, the first thing you do is choose whether it's a parent or child's phone. As mentioned, Android doesn't limit you to its own parental controls, allowing third-party options. Google's Family Link app lets parents view kids' activity, approve app downloads, set screen limits, lock their device, and see their location.
Apple offers stronger built-in parental features, but Android has the advantage of allowing third-party solutions. It's a wash.
Winner: Tie
(Credit: Apple/Will Greenwald)Gaming, VR, and AR
Apple and Google have recently pushed gaming, enabling VR and AR technologies in their mobile operating systems. They offer large libraries of casual and near-console-level games. Both let you subscribe to a selection of games rather than buying them separately. Apple Arcade costs $6.99 per month, and Google Play Pass cost $4.99 per month. The subscriptions lack ads, and Play Pass includes some non-game apps from less-known developers.
The iOS App Store offers a healthy selection of VR apps and VR games that you can explore on certain VR headsets. Apple continues to improve its ARKit technology to power augmented reality apps that bring 3D objects into your actual worldview. With the launch of the Apple Vision Pro, Apple-driven virtual reality tech could easily be the push the genre needs to hit the mainstream.
Google abandoned its promising Daydream VR and Tango AR initiatives, but work continues on ARCore augmented reality technology. The company has a dozen projects letting developers build apps using the technology.
The smartphone Camera app's Playground mode offers nifty 3D animations that fit into the real world. In addition, Google Lens uses AR to overlay nearby shopping and dining places.
Apple has made a major push toward gaming this year across its many devices, including iPhones. A surprising number of high-quality games, such as Death Stranding: Directors Cut and Resident Evil 4 Remake, made their way to Apple's platforms. These titles are tied to your Apple account and are cross-compatible with other Apple devices, which is especially convenient.
Winner: iOS
(Credit: Apple/PCMag)Business Features
Two of the previous sections come into play here: Fragmentation and Security. Both are wins for iOS, as IT departments want a unified platform. However, other important considerations exist when choosing a smartphone platform for business. For some businesses, Android's open architecture is preferable, letting them create apps that go deeper and wider in terms of accessing system features. For example, Android lets third-party services take over the phone for parental control, while Apple doesn’t.
Either phone plays well with Google Docs and Microsoft Office, so that's not a differentiator. Android integrates better with Windows, particularly the Phone Link app discussed above. Since most businesses run on Windows, that could be a reason to choose Android.
Winner: Tie
(Credit: Apple/PCMag)Accessibility
Both companies added features that help people with disabilities use their phones. Android has a Live Transcribe feature that lets deaf people read what's being said on the spot. It also offers TalkBack to speak what's on the screen, Lookout to tell you what's in view, and Voice Access for controlling your phone. It also supports external switches (from AbleNet, Enabling Devices, RJ Cooper, and Tecla) and lets you reprogram phone buttons. It recently added per-app language personalization, which is superb for multilingual users, even if the feature is not as app-ubiquitous as we would have liked.
Apple has many accessibility features, including Dictation, Live Caption, Pointer Control, and the VoiceOver screen reader. A Sound Recognition feature resembles a similar Android capability. One accessibility feature introduced on iOS is Back Tap, which anyone can use to trigger an action by tapping the back of the phone (and it works on models back to the iPhone 8)
There are Made for iPhone hearing aids, and the platform supports external hardware switch controllers, like the AbleNet TrackerPro hands-free mouse that follows head movements. Both platforms can also use third-party accessibility apps such as Be My Eyes, AccessAble, and TapTapSee.
Winner: Tie