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You are here: Home / Electronics / Apple Products / 16 Pros and Cons of Apple iPhone Smartphone – Is it Worth the Money?
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16 Pros and Cons of Apple iPhone Smartphone – Is it Worth the Money?

The iPhone has captured worldwide attention since its big debut back in 2007. Apple sought to bring its intuitive and user-friendly desktop environment to a mobile platform, and iPhone’s popularity suggests it succeeded.

advantages and disadvantages of iphone devices

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Regular iOS updates, new generations of iPhone models, and enhanced features have been added over the years, with long lines of excited Apple enthusiasts eager for the latest iteration.

While Apple has undoubtedly revolutionized mobile technology, most can agree that the iPhone has advantages and disadvantages.

In this article we will discuss the pros and cons of iphone devices for people who are still undecided whether to choose an ios or Android smartphone.

Table of Contents

  • iPhone Advantages
    • 1) High Build Quality
    • 2) Smooth and Intuitive UI (User Interface)
    • 3) Great Camera
    • 4) Very Secure
    • 5) Beautiful Design
    • 6) Great Performance
    • 7) Very Good Battery Life
    • 8) Apple EcoSystem
  • iPhone Disadvantages
    • 1) Overpriced
    • 2) Very Difficult to Install Apps Outside the App Store
    • 3) You Are Locked in the Apple Ecosystem
    • 4) No Headphone Jack
    • 5) Expensive Accessories
    • 6) No SD Card Slot for Extra Local Storage
    • 7) Internal Storage Size Limitations
    • 8) Limited Device Model Options

iPhone Advantages

1) High Build Quality

One of the remarkable achievements of Apple is the consistent premium build quality found throughout the iPhone product sphere.

Apple works to ensure solid durability with designs that include aerospace-grade aluminum, ceramic shield technology, and water resistance for up to half-an-hour.

Since Android smartphone models come from several different manufacturers, their build quality can vary significantly from model to model.

In contrast, Apple remains faithfully consistent in turning out premium mobile products year after year.

2) Smooth and Intuitive UI (User Interface)

Another reason the iPhone has remained popular is the straightforward and user-friendly interface.

One of the selling points among fans of Apple’s smartphones is the simplicity of the iOS interface.

Since Apple products all exist in a closed ecosystem, the iPhone remains consistent and easy for new users across all its iterations.

Although each new iPhone comes equipped with additional advanced features, iOS remains straightforward and doesn’t reinvent the wheel with each new update.

3) Great Camera

Among the iPhone’s significant advancements throughout the years, camera technology has continued to evolve and impress.

With higher-quality lenses that include a greater micron pixel count than the average competition, iPhone users enjoy greater clarity in their images.

Apple also included a more sensitive sensor in the iPhone camera, allowing for better performance in darker environments. It uses high quality sensors from Sony for great picture shooting.

In addition, iPhone has consistently excelled in terms of camera performance, whereas Android varies considerably depending upon the model.

4) Very Secure

Due to Apple’s closed ecosystem, keeping users safe from digital intrusion is much easier.

While Android works with many different manufacturers across its platform, offering a greater chance of security breach, Apple doesn’t.

Another reason the iPhone is more secure is that cyber criminals target products with the most significant market share.

While Apple is very popular, the Android platform holds most of the market share, making it more of a target.

Lastly, in terms of applications on the iPhone, Apple employs a technique called “sandboxing,” which limits the app from interacting with other elements while running.

Therefore, even if malicious code were present, an iPhone app couldn’t engage with it from within a walled-off “sandbox” environment.

Apple’s iphone encryption technology is also one of the strongest worldwide which employees dedicated hardware chips such as Secure Enclave, and a dedicated AES Engine.

5) Beautiful Design

Another advantage of the iPhone is definitely visual esthetics. The iPhone has become an eye-catching fashion accessory with its shiny metal finish, smooth corners, and premium design details.

Rather than looking like several pieces fitted together, the iPhone gives the impression it’s one solid piece, providing a seamless, striking appearance.

The edge-to-edge OLED display also creates a visually appealing smartphone that’s a joy to use.

While Apple has changed the size, color, and design of the iPhone over the years, Apple has still managed to make its product instantly recognizable from the competition.

6) Great Performance

The Apple iPhone offers robust performance with its own designed Apple CPU models like the A-XX Bionic series and internal RAM with up to 6GB, allowing for better multi-tasking performance and quick user response.

With the powerful A15 CPU, the latest iPhones are up to 50% faster in terms of processing when compared to the competition.

The iPhone 13 Pro Max, in particular, offers a blazing A15 CPU with five cores for an incredibly smooth smartphone experience.

7) Very Good Battery Life

Most smartphone consumers can agree that all the advanced features in the world don’t mean much with a short battery life.

Apple understands the importance of battery life in the iPhone and has worked on stretching out the charge as much as possible.

For example, the iPhone 13 Pro Max can provide users with more than a full day of use while performing video playback or streaming.

8) Apple EcoSystem

One of the unique aspects of Apple is its closed ecosystem and how devices seamlessly work together (iphone, MAC computers etc) to offer a great experience to the user.

Also, with an iPhone, users need to purchase accessories directly from Apple to ensure compatibility and performance.

Depending on user expectations, this closed ecosystem can be both positive and negative. For some, Apple’s ecosystem is easier to navigate, and there are fewer options which reduce the confusion found in the Android space.

It can also be a negative aspect as we’ll see in the Cons section below.

iPhone Disadvantages

1) Overpriced

The most talked-about disadvantage of the iPhone is undoubtedly the high price tag associated with Apple’s products.

When the iPhone 12 was first released, it came with a cost of well over $1000 and had many consumers questioning the value of such a pricey smartphone.

In comparison, the Android platform has many features comparable to models at half that price. While Apple indeed maintains premium quality and features, it asks that customers pay a premium as well.

2) Very Difficult to Install Apps Outside the App Store

While the Apple app store provides iPhone users a good experience with an organized and categorized marketplace, it’s also restrictive.

Unlike Android and the Google Play Store, Apple heavily restricts which apps are available in their store and refuses to officially offer many popular apps that Android users can download easily.

While these restrictions can be reasonable if an app is a potential security risk, it also requires users to go through a challenging process to download apps outside Apple’s store.

For example, if an iPhone user wanted to download a third-party app they felt was superior to Apple’s version, they would need to circumnavigate the app store, perform several steps and workarounds to install the app. At the same time, the iPhone actively tries to prevent such action.

3) You Are Locked in the Apple Ecosystem

While it can be incredibly convenient to find and purchase compatible Apple products that can work together, such as an Apple Watch and iPhone, it also reduces the available choices.

The Android ecosystem is wide open and designed to be flexible by offering more selection.

Conversely, Apple heavily controls its space and creates proprietary products that work exclusively within the Apple ecosystem.

Once users purchase an Apple product, they are locked in and can’t easily incorporate third-party services or connect to third party cloud solutions that are available to Android etc.

4) No Headphone Jack

Along the way, Apple made some questionable choices concerning the iPhone, including removing the headphone jack.

Users can plug in any manufacturer’s earbuds or headphones with a headphone jack to enjoy high-quality audio.

However, when the iPhone no longer offered a headphone jack, Apple instead promoted their wireless Apple earbuds called AirPods.

The only other choice for users was to plug earbuds into the lightning port, which would provide audio but was also used as the charging port and would prevent charging while used for audio.

For comparison, Android smartphones still have an audio jack and don’t require a special accessory to listen to music or streaming entertainment discreetly.

5) Expensive Accessories

One of the advantages of Android is that there is a rich stock of available third-party accessories that range in price and quality.

On the other hand, Apple locks users into purchasing their costly Apple brand wireless AirPods, charging cables, and more.

There isn’t much choice among iPhone users as many non-Apple brand accessories won’t work correctly on the platform.

Note that there are third-party accessories available that work with iPhones, Apple recommends their expensive accessories for best performance and compatibility.

6) No SD Card Slot for Extra Local Storage

Over time, one of the options that many smartphone users take advantage of is expandable storage.

With many Android phones, a convenient SD card slot allows users to add more internal storage space when necessary.

However, Apple doesn’t offer this feature and instead prices their phone models on tiers based upon available memory.

If an iPhone user finds that they need additional space, they’ll have to either delete content or purchase additional icloud storage to move files over (which costs extra money of course).

7) Internal Storage Size Limitations

One of the ways in which Apple prices different iPhone models include the available storage limit.

The iPhone model with 64GB of storage sits at a lower price but can’t be expanded and may fill up quickly.

As the storage limit increases, so does the cost of the iPhone. With storage options up to 1TB, the price becomes prohibitively expensive.

For example, an iPhone 13 Pro Max with 1TB of internal storage currently starts at $1599, which is likely outside most people’s budgets in terms of a smartphone.

8) Limited Device Model Options

The last big downside to the Apple iPhone concerns a lack of variety in available models. While there have been regular iterations of the iPhone up to the latest iPhone 13, the style, design, and overall look have remained relatively consistent.

Conversely, the Android sphere has many different and unique options. With more model variations, visual esthetics, and functional differences, the Android ecosystem provides users with a greater range of choices.

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Filed Under: Apple Products

About Harris Andrea

Harris Andrea is an IT professional with more than 2 decades of experience in the technology field. He has worked in a diverse range of companies including software and systems integrators, computer networking firms etc. Currently he is employed in a large Internet Service Provider. He holds several professional certifications including Cisco CCNA, CCNP and EC-Council's CEH and ECSA security certifications. Harris is also the author of 2 technology books which are available at Amazon here.

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