Apple Vs Samsung: The Age-Old Feud
Apple and Samsung, two giants of the tech industry, two age-old rivals. One shows the raw power of American innovation and the other the technological advancements of South Korea. Their rivalry is only “rivaled” by ones such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi.
Though, as a Samsung supporter, I’d love to tell all of you about how Samsung is the best, Apple too has its merits (and quite a lot of them!). Let’s take a deep dive into tech wonderland, and explore the rabbit hole, the metaphorical iceberg of Apple and its golden child iOS.
Apple: The Rise
On the 1st of April,1976, Apple Computer Company was founded, not in a lab, not in Silicon Valley, but in a humble garage. Despite its humble beginnings, it was no April Fool’s joke. Founded by 3 of the most brilliant minds of today, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne (Not Batman!).
These 3 thinkers proved themselves with the launch of Apple’s personal computers, or what we call PCs today. Despite competitors like IBM scoffing at the mere thought that a ‘personal computer’ would gain popularity, Apple blew the market out of the water, with the release of the Apple 2. This personal computer sold like wildfire, giving a new, respected face to this relatively unknown company.
Apple: The Fall
After seeing the success of the PC market, competitors like the previously mentioned company IBM, forced themselves into the market, releasing their own iterations and spin-offs of Steve Wozniak’s technological marvel. We would expect Apple to be leading the pack and dominating the competition, but unfortunately for them, a power struggle arose.
The CEO at the time, John Sculley, and the man, the myth, the legend himself, Steve Jobs were in perpetual conflict. Unfortunately for Apple, this conflict ended in Steve Jobs being shown his way to the door. After this, Apple went from being a pack leader to an outcast.
Their subsequent business-oriented releases of the Apple 3 and the Apple Lisa, despite being technological marvels, were unable to woo the public, and with the Apple Lisa costing $10,000 at the time, were also inaccessible to most of the public.
Apple: The Rise… Again
Despite the ensuing 10 years being the most grueling in the company’s history, they refused to throw in the towel. Then a miracle happened, Steve Jobs returned, and with him, so did the company’s revenue.
His innovative ideas for the iPhone, the iPod, and even Apple TV, though starting out as mild failures, later rocketed the company to the dominant position it has today. With its sleek, robust, and sometimes exorbitant devices rising to fame in all four corners of the globe.
iOS: Apple’s Success Engine
Now, what was it that was powering these innovations? Was it just Steve Jobs’ cranium? Or was it the sheer capital Apple possessed? To extract an answer, let's take a look at Apple’s most beloved product, the iPhone.
With it being in its 13th iteration currently, it has undergone a lot of changes from its blocky and thick design of the past, to a future-facing sleek and robust design in the present.
Yet, there is one instrument it cannot function without, iOS, Apple’s golden child and one of the most widely used operating systems today. It could be powering the device you’re using to read this article.
iOS: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! Its an Operating System!
So, what is iOS? To put it simply, it’s the operating system that Apple uses to power its “i” devices, think of the iPod, the iPhone, and a plethora of such devices.
Despite it being accompanied by macOS for MacBooks and iPadOS for iPads, these are closely related (iOS is in fact based on macOS! And iPadOS is based on iOS), and with iPhones accounting for 1 billion of the 1.8 billion devices, that’ll be the focus of this article.
Though for all the curious cats out there, I'll drop in a few links at the end if you want to read up on MacOS and iPad. But I digress, let’s get back to iOS for now, by taking a closer look at its inherent advantages and disadvantages when compared to Android.
iOS vs Android: A Losing Battle? Or A Glorious Victory?
Here comes the big question, which is better? iOS or Android? Unfortunately, it's not a clear-cut result. Let’s compare the 2 latest versions of iOS and Android head-to-heard, mano-e-mano, to find out.
iOS 16 was recently announced, alongside Android 13, causing major shockwaves in the tech market. iOS 16 seems to be more of a QOL or Quality Of Life and a customization-based update focusing on how your lock screen looks, the ability to edit or undo the sending of that oh-so-dreaded typo, the ability to share pictures, the long-awaited feature of virtual payment among dozens of others!
Android 13 on the other hand is more of a structural update, after the major overhaul in the “Material You” update of Android 12. With features like 3rd party apps supporting new design languages, Wi-Fi messaging, RCS typing indicators, forced end-to-end encryption in group chats, finally leaving the fate of those annoying spam notifications to the users, amidst many other respected changes.
However, it's wrong to say either of them is better or worse currently, as each software appeals to a different section of people and neither is mutually original. Android finally caved in and copied Apple Wallet and Apple refuses to get behind the times as it rejects the idea of adopting RCS to iOS 16 any time soon. So, let's just say it’s a draw for now.
The Finale , The Epilogue, The Coda
To conclude, Apple is the perfect example of a story of a humble beginning, growing into a rocketing success, with a rollercoaster of ups, downs, twists, and turns.
We can think of the company as Iron Man’s suit, resilient, adaptable, and most of all, powered by an arc reactor, which in this case is the champion of its flagship line of devices, iOS.
With new innovative features that force other operating systems to play catch up and it itself picking up on where it lacks, there’s no telling what iOS can achieve next. The future for this company, which competes with even government-owned oil titans like Saudi Aramco, seems bright and promising.
The Promised Links
And for all you explorers out there, don’t you dare think I've forgotten about my promise! Here are a few sources you can refer to deepen your understanding of macOS and iPad.
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