No matter how fierce the debate may rage about whether an iPhone or Android is better, the fact of the matter is that it’s just a preference. People might as well argue about whether dogs or cats are better. There are reasons people prefer an iPhone over Android, and even decades-long Android users can be surprised when they try one — and the reverse is just as often true. Choose the one that speaks to you and don’t waste any brain waves on people who’d respect you less for buying it. Having said that, there are definitely some reasons that an iPhone isn’t the ideal choice.

We won’t waste time with frivolous nonsense. So none of that “buy your mom an iPhone” stuff just to see blue message bubbles. Instead, we look at concrete, practical reasons why it might not be for you, both initial drawbacks and the long-term downsides of an Apple device.

As far as flagships go, there’s not a meaningful price difference between the iPhone 17 Pro Max and a competitor like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. For the starter 256GB model, the former starts at $1,199, while the latter starts at $1,049; storage upgrades to 512GB and 1TB are likewise almost neck-and-neck. Some might argue that the Galaxy S26 Ultra offers better specs for that price, but we’ll leave it up to you which brings more value to the table. On the midrange-to-budget end, however, Android can eat the iPhone’s lunch almost any day of the week.

Apple’s cheapest phone (if we’re talking only about the latest models) is the iPhone 17e, starting at $599. It’s very impressive for half the cost of a Pro, but Android has some very compelling options at or around that price range. Features Apple continues to restrict to flagship devices, like high screen refresh rates, multi-camera arrays, and top-end chips, are common for midrange Android phones.

Apple doesn’t offer a phone for less than $599, but if we lower the pricing threshold, you can still get amazing Android phones. The Samsung Galaxy A17 5G is an excellent example at only $199. It sports a 90Hz AMOLED screen, a three-camera array with a 50-megapixel main sensor, and a sizable 5,000mAh battery. For the vast majority of people who just need a phone to send messages, enjoy entertainment, and access banking apps, this will more than do the job for a third the price of Apple’s cheapest offering. We could give more examples, but you see the point: Apple cannot offer maximum bang for the buck.

iPhones have come a long way in recent years toward being more compatible with anything non-Apple. USB-C has put the Lightning cable in a long-overdue grave, RCS messaging is supported on iOS 26.5 with end-to-end encryption, and AirDrop works with certain Android devices. More countries are getting access to alternative app stores, and arbitrary limitations (like not being able to use Android smartwatches or non-WebKit browser engines) are likely on the way out. The walls of the walled garden are crumbling. Having said that, we have a long way to go before the walled garden becomes a public park.

There’s a laundry list of features that are still restricted tightly within the Apple ecosystem (meaning Apple-branded features that only work between Apple devices), even though Android devices often support something similar. Little things that make a huge difference, like being able to switch AirPods automatically between Apple devices, or update them without having to go to an Apple Store; inter-device productivity features like Handoff, Universal Clipboard, or full iPhone control on Mac via iPhone Mirroring; or Apple features that only work with other Apple users, like contact sharing via NameDrop, iMessage Check In, automatic Find My location sharing to your friends or Family Group, and so on, and so on, and so on.

Again, the point here is not that you only have these features on Apple devices. It’s that Apple effectively locks you out of entire sections of iOS unless you buy into its ecosystem. So if any of the above matters to you and you plan to buy an iPhone while owning other non-Apple devices — a Windows computer, an Android tablet, Bluetooth headphones — you might be missing out.

Gamers took notice when iPhones started releasing AAA game ports, and finally added vapor chambers for superior cooling. It looked very briefly like your iPhone could moonlight as a Steam Deck, combining two devices into one. That fizzled out pretty quickly. We still get the occasional game, like the 2026 release of “Control” on iOS, but you’re still better off getting a Steam Deck — or, in this case, an Android phone.

Android phones can play PC games now regardless of whether or not developers port them to the Google Play Store, thanks to free apps like GameHub and GameNative that use translation layers similar to the Steam Deck. Progress on this front continues to advance, with ways for Android users to even run a Linux distribution on their phone, almost like a SteamOS-powered PC handheld. At the time of writing, EmuDeck tracks over 4,000 PC games that work on Android devices with a “Perfect,” “Great,” or “Playable” rating. That number will likely only increase as time goes by, and we are rapidly approaching the era where an Android phone could also be your gaming PC. It already officially works as a PC with Desktop Mode, after all.

iPhones simply cannot compete, even though they probably could if given the chance. There’s no iPhone desktop mode in the works (that we know of), and so far, no apps that support game translation. For iPhone users, the closest thing to on-device PC gaming beyond those very limited ports is using a game streaming service like GeForce NOW.

To be fair to Apple, it does support its phones for quite a long time. iOS 26 support reaches back to the iPhone 11 and 2nd-generation iPhone SE, and support continues even after an iPhone stops receiving current feature drops; take a look at Apple’s security releases page, and you’ll see that older versions of iOS — iOS 18, 17, 16, and 15 — continue to get regular (sometimes monthly) patches for security vulnerabilities. So even though your iPhone 6s is officially vintage, you still receive security patches. Once that ends, though, your iPhone effectively has no options for further support.

Android owners aren’t left hopeless after their device leaves the manufacturer’s support cycle. If you bought the now positively ancient first-generation Google Pixel in the faraway past of 2016 (a decade-old smartphone is a centenarian in smartphone years), you can still run Android 15 and get security updates for it if you install LineageOS. Before you point out that the iPhone 6s released earlier than that in 2015, remember that it’s stuck on iOS 15, which released in 2021, and is next on the obsolete chopping block after the iPhone 4 and 5 got axed in 2026. Android 15, by comparison, started shipping in 2024.

Another factor to consider is app support. While the iPhone 6s’ iOS 15 may still get security updates, apps increasingly cease to support it. If you bank with Chase, for example, then your banking app of choice may become inaccessible. In general, LineageOS exists first and foremost to provide long-term support to older devices, so we have good reason to believe that that same Google Pixel will serve you for years more to come.

It’s been established for a while now that Apple users pony up more dough for apps, while Android users gravitate toward free ones; Exhibit A is Anki, a free vocab-memorization app on Android that costs $24.99 on iOS. 42Matters tracks 97.05% of Android apps being free, while only 95.08% of App Store apps are. Other analyses seem to confirm iPhone users are more willing to pay for things even if they don’t yet cost money, like Apple Intelligence, suggesting Apple users (for developers) might seem like easy cash cows.

But it’s more nuanced than that. Beyond user willingness, there are other reasons the iPhone App Store costs more than the Google Play Store may. Because Apple takes a painful cut from developers of all subscriptions bought through the App Store, they’re forced to raise in-app Store subscription prices; these subscriptions are often cheaper if you just go to the website directly. Further, developers cannot develop iOS apps without purchasing a Mac or using a third-party service to make iOS builds — potentially adding more cost to development. To add insult to injury, the Apple Developer Program subscription — the only way to distribute apps on the App Store — charges $99 for membership before you’ve even made any money on your app. Android developers do have to pay Google a service fee, but it’s only based on a percentage of digital purchases.

iPhone apps and subscriptions will probably continue to cost more than Android; it’s a potential unseen cost you need to factor into buying an iPhone. Basics like your banking app and your password manager might be free, but there’s no telling if some other app you need will charge you — or charge you more.