I haven’t used an iPhone as my daily device since 2012. That was the iPhone 5, renowned for its stunning industrial design, including, amusingly, the squared metal edges not too dissimilar to the latest iPhones.
The iPhone 5 offered a 4-inch display, while the same year saw the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III, the HTC One X, and the Nokia Lumia 920. Each of these devices had a larger display, with an exciting feel to Android and Windows Phone compared to iOS 6 and its dated skeuomorphic design.
It felt, at the time, as though the innovation in phones wasn’t coming from Apple.
I’ve reported on the launch of every iPhone since, and I’ve tested plenty of iPhones and other Apple devices, but I’ve always come back to Android at the end of the day. The question is, can Apple do anything to win back my affections?
It’s no longer a hardware race, except…
The thing that got me to switch from Apple to Android was hardware: larger screens, greater flexibility, better camera solutions. While Apple’s approach to the iPhone was slightly more cautious (despite the “courage” that Apple showed in removing the headphone socket on iPhone 7), there wasn’t enough happening to draw me in.
But the playing field has leveled. In recent years, Apple has dropped the Lightning connector in favor of the universal USB-C standard, and there’s now display size parity and a decent telephoto camera on the iPhone 16 Pro models, too. Truth be told, I love the design of the regular iPhone 16; it’s a great-looking device.
In other words, there’s no longer a hardware race in smartphones. I’ll happily accept that iPhones are generally more powerful (and wonderfully optimized), their displays are of great quality, and their cameras produce decent results. I don’t need to turn to a kooky Android brand to get those things anymore.
The exception to the rule is battery life, where Android is leagues ahead.
A battery dilemma for Apple
Battery life is the holy grail of mobile device performance. People aren’t rolling from year to year, crying out for more powerful hardware, but they do, consistently, call for longer battery life. That goes hand-in-hand with faster charging, something that Apple has been reluctant to implement, while Android has devices packing silicon-carbon batteries and, in some cases, 100W charging in some cases.
Apple is improving in this regard, but slowly. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is expected to use a larger battery than any previous iPhone model, while faster wireless charging is also on the cards thanks to the new Qi2 25W standard. That’s likely to see the iPhone 17 offer 25W MagSafe charging, compared to the current 15W offering.
It’s rumored, too, that the super-slim iPhone 17 Air could use silicon carbon battery tech, helping it keep a slim waistline while lasting through the day.
Boosting battery life will pique my interest, but Apple is in something of a bind. While cheaper Android phones can offer big batteries and faster charging rates, it’s generally accepted that those devices won’t be used for as long as an iPhone. Apple’s customers expect an iPhone to last for many years, and controlling battery health with more restrained charging rates is part of the company’s strategy to deliver on that expectation.
The new frontier is AI – and Siri has a lot of work to do
With hardware parity taking a back seat to functionality, it’s in the software department that the opportunity for innovation lies. Apple’s focus has so often been on expanding the ecosystem advantage, and while that’s great for fans using multiple Apple devices, it means nothing to those outside the wall.
Siri – one of the first voice assistants to launch – fell well behind the sort of interaction that Google Assistant offered soon after, and now it’s even further behind Gemini. Siri’s promised revolution powered by Apple Intelligence hasn’t yet arrived, but this is exactly where Apple needs to be taking the lead. The company’s Visual Intelligence tool is a step in the right direction, but there’s nothing unique about it, as Android’s Screenshot offers similar functions.
We’re moving into a post-app era, where AI will offer a personalized experience, able to predict what you want and when you want it. While we stagger through the iterative offers for translation or summarization – which is where AI is currently focused – that personalized AI experience seems far off.
Apple has, in the past, been a master of user interface experiences, smoothing the path to make everything easier. This is exactly what Apple Intelligence should be doing. Let’s press pause on generative AI images and create a seamless world where your phone really learns your routines, makes smart suggestions, learns from your preferences, and makes life easier.
Let’s break out of the restrictions of systems like Shortcuts to automate life without blow-by-blow user selection. Apple Intelligence, Galaxy AI, Google AI, and others all currently under-deliver on the promise of a better phone experience.
If Apple meaningfully moved things forward, with a new, smarter experience, I’d be happy to jump back into iPhone. Here’s hoping the company’s September 9 showcase has some good news in store.