I Give Up - Apple is Falling Behind

My thoughts and adventures with Android

Since the advent of the iPhone, which it took me until the iPhone 4 to adopt, we’ve seen at first a lot of innovation and then stagnation, as I’ve written. Well, at least to me there’s been a lot of stagnation because I’m squarely in the Apple camp. I have a MacBook Pro, a Mac Studio, an Apple Watch Ultra, and an iPhone 15 Pro Max.

I adore how they all seamlessly work together. The ability to have my messages, FaceTime, phone calls, and photos seamlessly integrate into each device is not only useful, but expected at this point.

I haven’t always been on the iPhone bandwagon though. I actually had the original Motorola Droid before an iOS device. Then after a few years, I got the original Samsung Note, which was a marvel at the time. Then I switched to a Pixel (can’t remember which one…it was about 2013) before going back to the iPhone permanently. I also was a full Linux user for about 5 years (laptop and desktop) when I was coding heavily. While I adore Linux and it’s exceptional when you are spending all day writing code or in a terminal, for general lifestyle use it simply doesn’t beat the Mac, especially with all the integrated features above.

My forays into Android were pretty disastrous. I push the limits of my devices and frequently find their interfaces to be what holds me back in my workflow. At the time of when I used it previously, Android and its apps were very unstable which would bring me to a halt. It was too much to bear so I’ve had iPhones ever since.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t keep up with new devices….and I think it may be Android’s time to shine.

The first device that I saw some incredible new features in was the Samsung S24 Ultra. It’s a beautiful piece of hardware that appears to have some amazing software features on it like AI editing of photos and realtime translation in calls. Now, Apple with iOS 18 is going to be adding many of these features to bring its software up to parity with new Android devices. However, I started to get an itch to try one of them.

When the new iPad Pro with the M4 chip was announced, I decided to get one to see if it fit into my workflow. I used it for a few hours and then it sat unused for a week before I returned it (if you’ve never taken advantage of Apple’s gracious return policy to try out a device…give its a spin). It’s amazing hardware held back by abysmal software. The screen is stunning but unless all I used it for was consuming Youtube videos, it really felt useless.

Another piece of hardware I’ve always had my eyes on was the Samsung Galaxy Tab Ultra, a 15” monster of a tablet. Again, beautiful hardware, but would the software match?

Well, recently I’ve been called upon to develop an Android app, so I finally got an excuse to buy a new device. I picked up a Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.

It’s hard to say why, but I use this tablet multiple times a day and absolutely love it. It’s the perfect size, has a great screen, feels good in the hands, and I am shocked at how stable its software is.

Even more so, I’m amazed at how much better the software is than an iPad.

Above all else, I use multitasking heavily on it. I’ll have a Google Meet open with a browser open next to it so I can do research. I’ll have Gmail with Spotify. Youtube with Chrome. It supports running up to 5 apps on screen simultaneously (4 with one in each corner and one floating). It’s significantly more akin to a desktop than my typical experience with a tablet. Even more, all the apps seem refined and stable. The OS itself is good looking and has more customization than I can ponder. Back in the day, I would have spent hours making it all look pretty but these days I am more productivity focused. If I had an Android phone though, rest assured I’d spend countless hours making it look cool. There are millions of potential setups while iPhones just have the dull array of apps.

And you know what? I significantly adore this tablet over the iPad.

Meanwhile, a form factor that started as a gimmick has now become the highest end phone available: the foldable smartphone. Recently, the Galaxy Fold 6 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold have been released.

And then I saw this video.

I want it. Now. I would be so much more productive on my phone (especially on the go) with the ability to have apps open side by side.

So why not get it? Quite simply, I use FaceTime waaaay too much to be able to switch. Apple has me locked squarely in their ecosystem and for the very first time ever, I’m disappointed in them. I have always believed that many Android devices are in fact better hardware but significantly worse software. But now? That has been turned on its head. Apple is so far ahead in market share they seem to have been very happy releasing small updates to hardware every year. Although, iPhone sales are finally slumping as people are holding onto their devices for longer.

Now, the above foldable devices are among the most expensive smartphones ever made so they may not go mainstream anytime soon, but I do believe if you use your phone heavily for productivity, it’s by far the best form factor. Rumors are Apple won’t be releasing a foldable device until at least 2027 and it might be an iPad before a phone.

I have to say, this is extremely disappointing. Foldable hardware (especially the latest Pixel) is advancing quickly and we finally have the software to make it super useful.

For the first time ever, I look at my iPhone somewhat in disgust realizing all the capabilities I’m missing out on while I also admire Apple for adding features so necessary that I can’t leave it behind as almost everyone I know uses one.

If anyone at Apple is reading this, please work on making better updates to your hardware and start pushing the envelope. Our mobile devices can clearly do so much more than you would have us believe and Android is finally pulling ahead. I’d rather not have to give up my iOS environment so please get a foldable out.

It’s going to be really hard to resist getting a foldable at this rate.