iPhone vs. Android for Business
Business people are not unlike others when it comes to using their phones. But the professional cohort does expect more security and reliability from their phones, since their devices contain confidential information that they do not want strangers to eavesdrop on. When it comes to security, Blackberry has always been the king. But since Blackberry is no more the popular smartphone maker, and with recent Blackberry offerings sporting Android, business users now have to choose between Android and iPhone. Compared to Android, iOS fares better on the security and reliability front. Or does it? Let’s find out!
Security
As aforementioned, security has always been a concern with Android devices, thanks to the platform’s open-source nature. iPhone, on the other hand, is a more closed setup and therefore more secure. Also, Apple screens an app more extensively than Android before accepting it into its store. This means the possibilities of an app infecting your phone with malware are less likely with iOS.
That said, Android has evolved over time and tremendous emphasis has been laid on the platform’s security features. In fact, some of the platform’s recent offerings such as the Google Pixel are highly secure. On the hardware front, both iPhones and Android phones are relatively even-steven since the majority of them come with biometric sensors.
User Experience
Business users want their phones to get the job done. They are not looking for fancy tricks and gimmicks that usually attract the general public. iPhone’s interface, especially when compared to Android, is simple and easy to use. Google’s Android is not complex by any means. But since it gets skinned by smartphone manufacturers, not every Android device out of the box looks and functions exactly the same. In other words, there’s a learning curve involved when a Samsung Galaxy user switches to a Huawei or Xiaomi phone. People who use iOS happen to maintain their level of familiarity when moving between iOS devices.
Longer Life
Compared to Android, iPhones are built to last long. The iPhone hardware is comparatively more premium, but a lot of the credit for this increased lifespan should be given to iPhone’s software. As mentioned earlier, Android phone manufacturers do not offer pure or stock version of Android to users. They add their own skins to the software to make the phone look their own and also add certain features and design changes. All of this takes a heavy toll on the phone’s hardware and overall performance, which is why Android phones are usually high on raw specifications and hardware compared to iPhones. And over a period of time, this impact on performance heightens.
With an iPhone, there is no such customisation and the software is presented to the end user exactly the way Apple planned to. This adds to the stability of the phone and the performance stays good and close to brand new even after several months of use. In other words, your iPhone would take a longer time to go obsolete. And this is why Apple still keeps previous generation iPhones on its retail shelves. Android phones are usually shown the exit whenever a newer variant is introduced.
Form Factor & Battery Life
Most business users usually do emails, texting, etc. on their phones. They, therefore, want phones that can be managed with one hand. Compared to Android, iPhones are much better in this regard. The smallest iPhone comes with a 4.0-inch display. If you want something slightly bigger but still fairly handy, there are the flagship 4.7-inch iPhones. In case you want something bigger, you have the 5.5-inch form-factor as well.
Androids don’t offer such variation. Most of its high-end phones are well above 5.5-inches. Except for Sony, no Android OEM makes a compact flagship. Moreover, iPhone’s’ battery standby times are much better than Androids, which most business users would appreciate. Android phones are constantly at work in the background. The iOS setup is well-optimised in this regard.
Conclusion
Both iPhone and Android phones would serve your business requirements well. But if you’re looking for stability, ease of use, and longer shelf life, the iPhone is your best bet. If your company offers a smartphone to its workforce every time a new phone launches, then it’s seriously a toss-up between Android and iOS since there isn’t much differentiating the two.
We hope you enjoyed the above post in cooperation with Socialnomics!
