The tight integration of Apple's hardware and software supports powerful gaming technologies using hardware and software that make its phones as fast as, or quicker than, some laptops. The growth of the iPhone as a gaming platform has led some observers to say that Apple is the leading mobile game platform (Nintendo has even started releasing games for the iPhone, like Super Mario Run). The iPhone and iPod touch are the dominant players in the mobile video game market, with tens of thousands of great games and millions of players. Mobile gaming used to be dominated by Nintendo's 3DS and Sony's Playstation Vita. Key apps also almost always debut on iOS, with Android versions coming later if they come at all. For example, the developers of the game Temple Run reported that early in their Android experience, nearly all of their support emails had to do with unsupported devices even though they support over 700 Android phones.Ĭombine development costs with Android's emphasis on free apps, and it reduces the likelihood that developers can cover their costs. That's a significant potential security threat.įragmentation-the large numbers of devices and OS versions to support-makes developing for Android expensive.

While Apple's control may seem too tight, it also prevents situations like the one where a fake version of WhatsApp was downloaded 1 million times from Google Play before Google removed it.

2020), but the selection isn't the most crucial factor.Īpple is strict about what apps it allows, while Google's standards for Android are lax. The Apple App Store offers fewer apps than Google Play (around 1.8 million vs. So, if you want the latest and greatest OS as soon as it's ready, you need an iPhone. On the other hand, Android 8 ran on just 0.2% of Android devices more than eight weeks after its release. Even its predecessor, Android 7, was only running on about 18% of devices more than a year after its release. IOS 11 was installed on about 66% of compatible models within six weeks of its release, thanks to its broad device support. It fully supported the iPhone 5S, which was released four years earlier. While older phones will eventually lose support for the latest OS, Apple's support for older phones is much better than Android's. Most Android makers are very slow to update if they update at all. The makers of the phones- not users-control when the OS update is released for their phones. That's because some Android makers are slow to update their phones to the latest version of the Android OS and sometimes don't update their phones at all. To ensure you always have the latest and greatest version of your smartphone operating system, you have to get an iPhone.

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