Why iPhones Are a Bad Purchase Compared to Other Smartphones Essay Example

Smartphones have presently been life changers for most of their users. From the Simon Personal Communicator by IBM, multiple revolutions in technology have influenced the development of many other smartphones including the Blackberry mobile device by Blackberry Inc., iPhone by Apple, Ericsson, Nokia, Microsoft, and others. However, these brands did not penetrate the market well until the development of the Android Operating system. Having been purchased by Google, the battle became tough for its products and Apple's products. One's preference would depend on the device specifications. To many, however, iPhones by Apple are a bad purchase compared to other products such as Android smartphones.

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Firstly, the iPhone is overpriced and favors people in the middle and working social classes, which comprise small percentages in the global community. Affordability has been a key consideration by Android and other operating systems, which is also a driver to the dominance of other smartphones worldwide compared to the iPhone. At just about any budget, it is easy to find an android that suits one's demands from a wide variety of devices with different designs, brands, and specs (Jain and Ashok 30). Additionally, at a good budget, one can get a smartphone that meets the specs of the iPhone. Android and other smartphones can, therefore, be considered to have an inclusive nature compared to the stark contrast to the iPhone hence, proving the iPhone like a bad purchase to many users.

Secondly, Android has more free applications and games compared to the iPhone, which one has to purchase most of its applications. The iOS has lesser free versions of applications, and those that exist have trial periods after which one would have to purchase to enjoy their usage (Remneland-Wikhamn, Ljungberg, Bergquist, and Kuschel 222). It is evident that some applications that are priced on the iPhone are free on Android and other smartphones. Such applications include the "Indefinite" application. Many people are willing to pursue the freemium or use applications with ads than purchase similar applications. Additionally, there are many application alternatives on Android, which can be used to substitute paid apps on iOS. Therefore, the inconvenience in usability and accessibility of applications has made the iPhone a bad purchase to many users.

Thirdly, the iPhone has limited battery life compared to other smartphones. Many smartphone users stick to their phones for the best part of their days as they contain valuable information to them such as communication, calendar notifications, news, and research, which is easily accessible hence, would want longer lasting batteries. A research performed by Rahmati, Tossell, Shepard, Kortum, and Zhong proved that 90% of smartphone users complained of their poor batteries on iPhones as their expectations did not match their realities (8). Other smartphones are built with better and more charge cycles as compared to the iPhone. Battery replacement and maintenance also come at a cost considering that all iPhone batteries are non-removable. More Android and other smartphone users use their phones more and do not report incidences of constraints of their batteries; hence, efficiently using their phones. The complaints regarding battery life lead to poor perceived usability; hence, the preference of other smartphones over the iPhone.

Fourthly, page loading delays have been linked to iPhone usage. It has been proven that a phone such as the Samsung SCHi760 as consistently twice the webpage loading time compared to the iPhone, provided the same content and network condition (Huang, Xu, Tiwana, Mao, Zhang, and Bahl, 2). Additionally, with customization, which is impossible on the Phone, page loading time can be well improved by at least 20% (Huang et al. 2). Control over the iPhone done by Apple could be the leading factor to the drawback especially as a result of the large traffic volume resulting from multiple network applications. The G2 Android device has been considered as having a faster response compared to the iPhone considering constant factors such as their specs (Huang et al. 10). The significant page loading time differences are an issue of concern for the end user as one would prefer faster response on their gadgets.

Lastly, the iPhone is limited in customization compared to other smartphones. Various alternatives including the android can let the user customize their home screen and other areas that the iPhone does not let its users to (Jain and Ashok 32). These areas include the Keyboard, which can be adjusted by finding alternative ones, themes, ROMs, wallpapers and launchers. Everyone would love to be unique from the crowd and having a customizable phone would be their preference. However, in contrast, the iPhone keeps control of the applications, creating a homogenous software and hardware experience. Other smartphones may have considered user preference compared to the iPhone, rooting it as a bad purchase for many.

Conclusion

Having considered the factors of the purchase price, freeware, battery life, page loading and customization, all which are the demands of the end user, the iPhone can be considered a bad purchase over other smartphones. Companies that address customer demands will always find a better market advantage over those that do not address the various needs. Therefore, other smartphones will always sell best and have greater market share compared to the iPhone.

Works Cited

Huang, Junxian, et al. "Anatomizing application performance differences on smartphones." Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Mobile systems, applications, and services. ACM, 2010.

Jain, Vinamra, and Ashok Sharma. "The Consumer's Preferred Operating System: Android or iOS." International Journal of Business Management and Research 3 (2013): 29-40.

Rahmati, Ahmad, et al. "Exploring iPhone usage: the influence of socioeconomic differences on smartphone adoption, usage, and usability." Proceedings of the 14th international conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices and services. ACM, 2012.

Remneland-Wikhamn, Bjorn, et al. "Open innovation, generativity and the supplier as a peer: The case of iPhone and android." International Journal of Innovation Management15.01 (2011): 205-230.