I'm pretty sure most of you are thinking about buying an iPhone. And you might have various reasons as to why you want one. See, most people view their phones in terms of hardware and features that, for the most part, matter very little in everyday use. Some determine the value of the phones they buy in terms of prestige. And Apple at this point is very much a luxury brand. But the price of an iPhone - especially in the sea of cheap android phones - is something of a barrier against most of the population. In this article, I'm going to share with you my train of thought for buying an iPhone.
Software
Software is, in my opinion, the biggest advantage and the most important aspect of a iPhone to me. How many of us android users have a two year old phone that is just acting up. Random shutdowns and restarts. More frequent misbehavior such as closing applications or hanging pages. Want to know what's wrong? I'm 90% sure its software. Have a look at the software you are using. It probably a year old. What about the security update? Probably six months old. Older software is less optimized. And outdated security patches make your phone more vulnerable to security breaches. Newer software has better memory management. This means less crashes. Google fixes a bunch of things when they release a new android version, fixing bugs and optimizing the OSs operation on a variety of market levels. But the phone manufacturer didn't bother incorporating these fixes to their phones. They never reached you. So chances are your using sub-optimal software.
It might surprise you, but most devices today are built with planned redundancy after a couple of years. While this is not exactly what happens in the smartphone markets, the lack of software support after a given period of time is, in effect, a planned redundancy model. And for Android phones - and until just recently - the best you could get from a phone manufacturer was 2 years of software support and security updates. And even this was extremely rare. Only a handful of companies, including Nokia and Xiaomi offered such promises. The rest gave you - at most - a year of support.
Can’t Google Keep Up?
The problem arises from the fact that the phone manufacturer is responsible for sending out Google's updates and fixes to you. Samsung has to ensure that a released update works well with its phone, given that Samsung phones have distinct features. To do so, Samsung has to test the update across all its product categories. And Samsung has a lot of phones. A lot. So it makes sense that they try to limit this, as it would require a lot of manpower, which is an additional cost. This goes for most android phone manufacturers. I think that is a mistake.
But Apple usually only releases three (sometimes four) phones a year. Compare this to the tens of phones released by Android OEMs. And what's the advantage of this? Integration. Since apple only needs to update four phones a year, it can put a lot more effort into ensuring the software is smooth and up to date. That's why apple phones all get updates at the same time, across continents. And the single most important factor? Five plus years of software support. Five years. This means that you could buy a new iPhone today and still have the latest software and features in 2026! That is amazing! This is why you see people still using iPhone 7s around, and being content with these dinosaurs of phones. These old phone still work remarkably well, showing age only in terms of hardware. And Apple hardware is pretty good, even for an older phone.
The Apple Touch of Quality
Apple also enjoys the benefit of controlling its software and hardware businesses top to bottom. Apple makes the software and the hardware. This allows the company to optimise the two for each other, resulting in a smooth and premium experience when using their products, no matter how old. Android manufacturers, on the other hand, are mostly hardware companies. They manufacture the phones, then slap the Android operating system on. From there they add on unwanted features to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. This is how you get two browsers, Email clients, galleries, and so forth. This bloatware just fills up your phone, and most times without the option to uninstall them. This I hate more than anything else (I'm a minimalist!)
But The Cost Though!
The single prohibiting factor for the iPhone is the cost. Not the cost of the phone. The maintenance cost when something goes wrong. This is because Apple - being Apple - controls its own supply chain, from top to bottom. This means that it can control, to some extent, who sells its phones. And due to the small number of phones, coupled with the longevity of the phones, the supply of iPhones is always just scarce enough to keep prices high. And since Apple also controls its repair and part vendors, you can bet the prices of these parts are also going to be high as hell. Who wants to repair a screen at almost half the cost of the phone? This also comes with the small number of verified repair shops in the country, which will charge you a pretty penny for this privilege. This is not to say that Samsung and Huawei aren't playing the same game. They are, especially lately. But these companies also offer a large selection of phones at every price point.
I really think that the iPhone is a good bargain to a particular kind of person. It is definitely not someone in the budget category. At these prices, the only options are really old iPhone either at the end of their support or coming close to this. I'd rather you buy a cheaper Android with newer software. However, if you are in the midrange and top-end categories, I think you should consider buying an iPhone, even an older one from two generations ago. There is still tremendous value in these phones. That is if you can stomach the price and the repair costs if something goes wrong.