> Engineers still have good reasons, as Apple's App Store limitations pretty much just hamper tools power users could want. (e.g. Termux, Tasker, etc)
Yeah, this isn't even most engineers I know, but its a legitimate argument. I used to run Cyano/AOSP builds on my LG/Droid phones.
> One other good reason is the very large catalogue of open source apps on Android. There's a lot of good quality free apps that Apple's fees, terms and the necessity of Macs to develop scare away.
I really, really don't think even 0.001% of users care about this. The engineers I know with Android all tend to be either neutral-to-anti-Linux/FOSS, they are "Windows" engineers. All the Linux/FOSS guys use Mac laptops + Linux Desktops/Workstations and iOS devices.
>Longevity kinda depends on your threat model. Of course Android devices will stop getting security updates sooner as we all know, but one extra thing to think about is that Apple does not backport new features and APIs, while Google generally does. This means that most apps on iOS are -strongly- encouraged to move their minimum supported iOS version up often. All this to say that an iPhone that doesn't get any more OS updates will stop getting app updates very quickly, while an Android Marshmallow phone still supports the majority of apps. It's a tradeoff between OS updates vs app updates, the majority of people would care more for the latter
I really don't think this tradeoff exists. The iPhone 5S got 9 years of OS and security updates. None of my apps broke during that period, and I still use that phone in WiFi mode as a remote for home automation/Roku/etc. and two-factor RSA apps/tools.
It's really insane when you consider just how long iOS devices are supported:
> (Though engineers would likely never keep a phone for that long, but the merit stands)
Yeah, most of my engineer friends who stayed android liked the upgrade cycle so the OS-update/support cycle didn't matter. Problem is that things have been very, very stale for Android flagships the last 4-5 years in comparisons to iOS devices.
I just don't think the value proposition is there anymore for Android. It's basically the Anti-Apple/Niche Poweruser/Low-end phone platform of choice.
I was close to dropping Apple entirely over on-device CSAM scanning (I don't mind iCloud server scanning) and looking at a Pixel/Calyx/Graphene alternatives for privacy, and really found myself not liking my options. You give up a lot of battery life, privacy functionality, and cross-device integration moving away from iOS.
Wikipedia says the iPhone 5S was released in September 2013, So that's about 6-7 years of updates.
The chart you linked seems wrong to me. Am I missing something?
You're right, the chart is showing OS releases not precise iPhone releases.
It still closer to 7-8 years for the 5S of OS/security updates (just because a new OS version came out doesn't mean security updates stopped completed).
Yeah, this isn't even most engineers I know, but its a legitimate argument. I used to run Cyano/AOSP builds on my LG/Droid phones.
> One other good reason is the very large catalogue of open source apps on Android. There's a lot of good quality free apps that Apple's fees, terms and the necessity of Macs to develop scare away.
I really, really don't think even 0.001% of users care about this. The engineers I know with Android all tend to be either neutral-to-anti-Linux/FOSS, they are "Windows" engineers. All the Linux/FOSS guys use Mac laptops + Linux Desktops/Workstations and iOS devices.
>Longevity kinda depends on your threat model. Of course Android devices will stop getting security updates sooner as we all know, but one extra thing to think about is that Apple does not backport new features and APIs, while Google generally does. This means that most apps on iOS are -strongly- encouraged to move their minimum supported iOS version up often. All this to say that an iPhone that doesn't get any more OS updates will stop getting app updates very quickly, while an Android Marshmallow phone still supports the majority of apps. It's a tradeoff between OS updates vs app updates, the majority of people would care more for the latter
I really don't think this tradeoff exists. The iPhone 5S got 9 years of OS and security updates. None of my apps broke during that period, and I still use that phone in WiFi mode as a remote for home automation/Roku/etc. and two-factor RSA apps/tools.
It's really insane when you consider just how long iOS devices are supported:
https://img.gadgethacks.com/img/original/84/99/6367296924559...
> (Though engineers would likely never keep a phone for that long, but the merit stands)
Yeah, most of my engineer friends who stayed android liked the upgrade cycle so the OS-update/support cycle didn't matter. Problem is that things have been very, very stale for Android flagships the last 4-5 years in comparisons to iOS devices.
I just don't think the value proposition is there anymore for Android. It's basically the Anti-Apple/Niche Poweruser/Low-end phone platform of choice.
I was close to dropping Apple entirely over on-device CSAM scanning (I don't mind iCloud server scanning) and looking at a Pixel/Calyx/Graphene alternatives for privacy, and really found myself not liking my options. You give up a lot of battery life, privacy functionality, and cross-device integration moving away from iOS.