• After more than 15 years covering everything Apple, it’s with a heavy heart we announce that we will no longer be publishing new content on iMore and the iMore forums will be closing as of November 1st, 2024.

Do you think we’ll ever see both an Apple iPhone and an Apple Android smartphone?

crucial bbq

Member
Sep 21, 2015
17
0
0
Visit site
No, it is not possible and for historical reasons. For one, Apple wants complete control over the user's experience. That is to say they want to user to have the experience that they want the user to have. Secondly, Apple does not compete against their own lines of products.

Then again, Apple would be forced by Google to allow users to install/use whichever launcher they so choose; to install 3rd. Party filing apps. Or the camera app of choice. And so on. While there are certainly some Android users who would love an Android handset built with Apple hardware and design you'll be hard-pressed to find any who would also be okay with being "stuck" with only one launcher, as an example, even if they never drift away from the stock launcher that shipped with their handset.

Would they go with Qualcomm chips? Probably not. So then how long do you think it would take Apple to tweak the Android kernel to work with AX-series chips and Apple hardware in general? A few years, at least.

With that, and with 100 or more other reasons for why an Apple-branded Android handset would never happen aside, would I buy one if it were to magically happen?

Honestly, I don't know. I've been a Mac fanboi since the late 90s and yet I cannot stand iOS. For me, a start would be to make it less like iOS. That is not to say it would have to be more like Android, though. App Store? Play? App Store? Play? Tough one. My opinion is that App Store certainly has more higher-quality apps than Play, but Play has a heckofalot more apps for free. Of course, they are not really free, we pay for them through ads and/or data collection.

This brings me to another point: "Google Android" cannot work without Play and as far as I know iOS cannot work without iTunes and App Store. Would this Apple Android handset ship with both?

Anyways, the biggest draw for me would be if Apple can promise to support an Android version of an iPhone for as long as they currently support their iPhones. I mean, if there were an Android handset with guaranteed 4 -5 years of updates and support would be huge.
 

Ken Magel

Well-known member
Mar 20, 2014
309
0
0
Visit site
If Apple used Android, they would have to modify it to support greater privacy and more Apple control of what apps can do. I do not see that ever happening unless Apple some day is so desperate this is the only way they can survive.
 

Spencerdl

Apple Watch Champion
Moderator
Jan 10, 2013
41,139
207
63
Visit site
Anything is possible, I would like to see the customization on an iPhone that Android is capable of doing.
 

Ledsteplin

Ambassador
Oct 2, 2013
51,092
846
108
Visit site
No, they would not want to introduce an Android version that would compete with the iPhone. I mean, they discontinued the original iPhone X for that reason.
 

Trending Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
262,069
Messages
1,773,540
Members
441,382
Latest member
Mohammadreza