The smartphone market is an odd
one: Android sells more phones,
but Apple makes most of the
money. The ongoing rivalry is
good for fans of both platforms,
but which one is better? We put them to the test in our iPhone vs Android
comparison.



iPhone vs Android comparison:
hardware

The iPhone has been around since 2007, but
Apple’s iOS operating system doesn’t support the
iPhone 4 or its predecessors: iOS only runs on the
iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 6 and iPhone
6 Plus. That isn’t likely to change with the release
of iOS 9 this fall. Where Apple effectively offers five different iPhones,
Android phones suffer from no such limitations: the
latest version of Android, Lollipop, ships on
smartphones from Samsung, Sony, HTC, LG, Motorola,
Acer, ZTE, Huawei, OnePlus… you get the idea. What
that means in practice is that you’re much more likely to find an Android device that fits your
particular needs, because the choice is much
greater.

Apple doesn't offer the massive range of hardware
options that Android delivers.


iPhone vs Android comparison:
software


The current version of iOS, iOS 8, is about to be
replaced with iOS 9, but it's more of a maintenance
release than a massive update. The emphasis is on
performance and battery improvements for the
iPhone. In many respects it appears to be playing
catch-up with Android. There’s a new Google Now-esque feature called
Proactive, and the same kind of battery optimization
that Google introduced in Lollipop. The traffic isn’t
one way - for example, the imminent Android M has
visual voicemail, a feature that Apple introduced
nearly a decade ago - but it does mean that Android and iOS are more similar than they’ve ever been

The next Android, Android M, will also ship this fall.
The biggest feature is Google Now on Tap, which
extends Google Now into third-party apps, and
there’s a massively improved permissions system
to give you control over what data and features your
apps can access. Under the hood there’s more optimization for power usage and a new feature,
Doze, to improve standby time through the use of
motion detectors - so your phone will know if
you’re not using it and power down accordingly. This, combined with the App Standby feature - which
lowers apps' background activity when your
phone's in standby mode - drastically improves
battery life, according to early tests. There’s also
USB-C support for much faster charging.


Apple doesn't offer much in the way of
customisation, while Android is almost infinitely
customizable.

iPhone vs Android comparison:
apps

On paper, Android is ahead of the iPhone when it
comes to apps: as of May 2015 there were 1.5
million apps available for Android and 1.4 million for
the iPhone. However, as Android owners are all too
aware, that figure includes an awful lot of very poor
quality apps, shameless rip-offs and the odd bit of malware too. You’ll find the big-name apps on both platforms,
but there are some notable differences. For example
iOS is much better served for music apps, and
developers of paid-for apps tend to develop for iOS
first. That’s for the simple reason that iPhone users
are more likely to pay for apps than Android users are.

iPhone vs Android comparison:
wearable computing and home
automation


Apple has the Apple Watch, but Android has Android
Wear - so as with phones, you have a choice of a
few models of the same Apple product or an entire
world of choice from Android firms. The Watch is
probably nicer than many Android Wear devices, but
it’s also a lot more expensive - and if we’re honest, neither platform has really become a must-
have just yet. Both the iPhone and Android are compatible with
many other wearables, such as Pebble watches,
fitness and health trackers and so on. They’re also
increasingly connecting to home automation devices
such as smart thermostats (Google bought Nest, the
firm responsible for the best such device), security cameras and so on. In most cases you’ll find that
such devices work with both platforms.


iPhone vs Android comparison:
which is best? We can’t answer that, because the answer
depends entirely on what matters to you. Build
quality? iPhone. Openness? Android. Ease of use?
iPhone. Customization? Android. Apps? iPhone,
mainly. Affordability? Android, mainly. You get the
idea. What’s interesting, though, is how similar the
platforms are becoming. Android firms are doing a
pretty good job of matching Apple’s design smarts,
while Apple has clearly noticed how much people
like Google Now. The platforms may be bitter rivals,
but their battle is driving big improvements in both iPhones and Android devices - and that means
everybody’s a winner. What do you think? Are there areas where Apple is
beaten soundly with an Android stick? Are there a
few Apple tricks Google should nick?

There is No perfect phone to be honest.. Pros n cons, and that's why you'll still find die hard blackberry fans in 2015. But in my opinion, Android offers more options.