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I have always been a loyal Android and HTC user, from my first smartphone, HTC Salsa, to many HTC phones including HTC One, One M8, and U11. In late October, though, I finally made the decision to switch to an iPhone XS. Naturally, this comes as a huge surprise to all of my friends:

The truth is, I simply have always been constantly evaluating both Android and iOS platforms, and decided that iOS is my best choice for now. So why the switch now, you ask? In this post, I’ll break down my motivation for switching to Android in a few main reasons.

• What we all know about the Apple ecosystem
• Recent iPhone & iOS improvements solidified my decision to switch
• Android phones are slowly losing the legacy of flexibility, but the software has yet to match that of iPhone
• I miss certain things about Android, but I’m willing to deal with it for iPhone

What we all know about the Apple ecosystem

The iPhone + iOS ecosystem is arguably the most robust smartphone platform. The quality and variety of apps on iOS is superior than that on Android, and because of its popularity, you often see new apps launch on iOS before it goes to Android. But this is just the tip of an iceberg: because Apple maintains tight control of the system from hardware, OS, to app store, it is able to achieve many things that none of the Android manufacturers can and never will, like…

…software updates. Because Apple designs its own hardware and operating system, once testing and carrier certification is complete, updates are ready to push to all supported phones worldwide and it’s able to support iPhones dated as far as 4 years because of fewer models that need be integrated. In Android world, the update is often a never-ending nightmare. Once Google releases a new operating system or update, it is up to the chipset manufacturer to decide to provide drivers for the OS, followed by customization by phone manufacturers. By the time carriers finally certify the software to work on their network, an Android user may have waited a whole year – when a new release of Android will probably have arrived (especially for those on older devices).

…near universal support and compatibility. If you don’t travel often, it might not come as an obvious advantage to you, but most of my gripes with Android phones have surrounded this issue. For me, it comes down to support of carriers, Apple Pay, and transit cards.

Because Apple’s control on iPhone and its massive user base, it works with virtually every wireless carrier imaginable to ensure iPhone works on these networks. I used to live in China, so ability to use a local Chinese SIM when I’m in the country is very important to me, but even with “unlocked” Android phones purchased in the US, I still have issues connecting to local network. Both HTC 10 and Galaxy S8 refused to connect to China Telecom until I manually loaded carrier configuration files into the phone. Even then, the phone still had critical issues like not being able to send text messages or make phone calls. On my back up iPhone, on the other hand, everything simply works when I plug in the SIM.

With NFC payment, although Google has made great strides to expand Google Pay into international markets, Apple Pay still supports the most number of banks. This is in part due to Apple’s handling of mobile payment, where such transactions can only be done via Apple Pay, as opposed to little restriction on Android, where banks can implement their own solution in their proprietary app and thus less incentive to work with Google. Also, remember the whole drama from wireless carriers blocking Android Wallet (in favor of their ISIS wallet) in its infancy? This is what happens when phone manufacturers are too small to negotiate with carriers.

The difference in universal support is perhaps best illustrated in the inclusion of FeliCa support in all iPhones worldwide from iPhone 8 onwards, enabling global contactless payment, and most importantly, in Japan. Apple has truly made universality its priority and strive to make iPhones “just work.” Android phones, on the other hand, still suffers from fragmentation and lower volume per device, and most manufacturers only license FeliCa technology for models sold in Japan. Even Google has only included the functionality on its Japanese Pixel 3 and nowhere else. As a frequent Japan tourist, this sticks out as a sore thumb, knowing I won’t be able to take advantage of the contactless payment while traveling. Apple also enabled transit card functionality in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, something Google won’t be able to any time soon for obvious reasons.

…holding value over time. A used, 3 year old 16GB iPhone 6S still sell for $200 today. A Galaxy S6 from the same year? $150, but you need to be fine with a plastic phone that runs on Android that hasn’t been updated for 2 years. Yes, iPhone 6S is supported by the latest iOS – and that is a huge reason why Apple product hold value, because you can expect your phone to last much longer than their Android counterparts.

…having killer features that truly work well. For me, they are iMessage, AirDrop, Continuity and FaceTime. And after all these years, I’m still unable to find anything comparable on the Android. All of these features are deeply integrated into iOS – there is no installation required, and it really, really, simply just works. Sure, the likes of WhatsApp provides similar benefit, but you still need to install them separately. Asides from the reliability and security of iMessage, which is long known, AirDrop is my absolute favorite feature. Sending photos to your friend has never been faster and easier, and more importantly, they are full resolution – common methods on Android are almost always lossy transfer, except if you use Bluetooth, which will take you forever.

Android phones are slowly losing their legacy trait of flexible hardware design, but the software has yet to catch up with Apple

My reason for sticking with Android has always been the greater flexibility in both software and hardware. All the HTC phones I owned had expandable storage. Galaxy S8 had a headphone jack. And with Android, you can pretty much do whatever you want whenever you want, like installing apps that taps into parts of the system that are hidden from general users.

Android phone makers in the recent years, however, are slowly following the footsteps of Apple in terms of limiting options. HTC phones since U11 no longer have headphone jacks, and Galaxy phones no longer have expandable storage. It is one thing to match Apple’s “courage” to remove certain features – I was forced to transition to wireless headphones with HTC U11, but the overall experience has been an upgrade from the confines of headphone wires – but Android manufacturers have simply not been able to enhance software enough to make up for the loss of hardware features. Texting on Android is still stuck in 1980s with RCS only available on a handful of devices, with severe limitations. Play store is still a mess with buggy and sometimes malicious apps. Updates are still few and far in between. The latest Pixel 3 sees Google adopting gesture based navigation in favor of the traditional command bar. The interface, however, leaves a lot to be desired, as many reviewers from major tech websites have pointed out.

I miss certain things about Android, but I’m willing to deal with it for iPhone

As much as I am happy with the switch iPhone, there are certain things that I realize I’ve been taking for granted on Android that Apple still refuses to implement. Take home screen as an example. To this day, Apple still follows the same format since the beginning – grids of app icons with absolutely no room for customization. Why is it so hard to arrange my app icons the way I want? The inability to transfer files to and from iPhone is also inconvenient in an emergency. Perhaps the most ridiculous restriction I found, is that Apple only allows the default tone for app notifications. This has always been customizable since the beginning of mobile phones!

Despite these frustrations, though, I’ve decided that I’m willing to live with it. There are good and bad to each mobile platforms. Android wins in camera and flexibility. Apple wins in integration and reliability. I’m not, and won’t ever be an Apple fanboy, and if there comes a day where Android fixes its biggest issues, I won’t hesitate to switch back at all. But at this point, I believe not being able to customize my notification ringtone is a worthwhile tradeoff for a fluid OS experience, global reliability, and superior app support – with most other features perfectly competitive with the rest of the flagship phones.