Plus they seem to last a lot longer than your average android smartphone in terms of longer term performance/updates. I'm holding out a (faint) hope that they'll make at least one generation with USBC before going port-less as that's the main thing stopping me from switching

I think this is often about the experience of using it as opposed to raw compute performance benchmarks (even if M1 does excel in those). In many cases, be it because of integration, more care about design, or whatever, the apple experience feels more... snappy? Smooth? It's hard to put a finger on what exactly leads to this, and it may also be about the combination of many small details.

Apple phones are faster both in subjective experience and objective benchmarks.

Snapdragon 8x5 CPUs have been fast enough for a while now, and you wouldn't notice a difference as long as you run a decent flavor of Android. However you can notice a faster screen refresh rate, and high end Android wins there. I wouldn't trade 90 (or 120hz) screens for a faster CPU.

But crucially, nowhere near as fast as iPhones: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-12-benchmarks-this-des...

In my experience that's not true. A Note20 ultra feels much faster and smoother to use than Iphone 12 pro.

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I think it's a bit of both... I don't doubt for a second that Apple creating both the CPU and Software together are why the X86 emulation is as good as it is.

I'm actually thinking about getting one of these as I've been without a personal laptop for a while now. That said, I'm waiting for Docker support to get flushed out a bit more as I wouldn't mind getting work done. I am interested on how the really high performance ram effects my workflows, as I've often gone over 16gb as a sticking point, got my work laptop upgraded to 32gb earlier in the year and my personal desktop is at 64gb.

I'm not sure it will replace my r9-3950X desktop for getting things done, but it's absolutely compelling for its' space. I swore off macs for a while now, and this might pull me back in.

I have used the latest iphone and the latest galaxy note and honestly the note feels faster. Maybe because of the screen refresh? But then the same question: what use is a faster chip when the end result feels slower?

I don't know that's true anymore.

Overall experience feels better on android. Few things that make difference for me.

1. Notifications are leagues ahead of anything on iOS.

2. Little accessibility features like sound search, automatic caption, text selection from any screen/pictures, better integration with google assistant adds up.

3. Customizability. Yes, even now iPhone is super limited in the layout you can have on home screen or the new app launcher. You can't group things or put them wherever you want on the screen. This is ridiculous.

4. Android phones have higher refresh rates. Almost any flagship in 2020. The punch hole camera feels better than the notch. Face ID = problematic in the pandemic with masks. Though, I like it generally but apple could have given touch ID on the same device as well.

5. For tinkerers, it has better support again. Youtube vanced, tachiyomi, advanced adblockers, "real" firefox with extensions, etc are only available on android.

The best part is you can get the pixel 4a for $300 with some carriers. 3 years of updates which is what typical upgrade cycle looks like for iPhone users even if they get "updates" for longer.

Source: Own both.

You're 100% right on notifications -- despite having borrowed a bunch of ideas from Android on how to handle notifications, iOS still doesn't get it completely right.

There was a point in time that I was pretty deep into the Android scene, but at this point in my life I just want my phone to work consistently and have great battery life.

After many years of using Android devices (including many Nexus / Pixel devices), I switched to an iPhone 11 Pro Max last year. I've been very happy with that switch, my phone always makes it through a day of use and I haven't ran into any of the quirks that I encountered on my Android devices on a regular basis.

I completely understand why you would prefer Android, but there are definitely people (including myself) that are happier with iPhones.

Yes. I have the same iPhone too. I just don't get why so many people here are fixated on chipset differences when average people care more about having better quality mic, speakers, etc. Even camera is good enough on most devices these days. The photos will not have huge differences after being compressed on online platforms in the end. How many people actually care about having raw photos?

I just don't think any flagship in 2020 is worth it for an average consumer when options like pixel 4a exists. iPhone se is not good due to the screen but otherwise it would have been a great contender as well. People notice 90hz crisp display more than faster opening apps.

You're not wrong, but things like a unified clipboard, continuity, the peace of mind which comes from knowing that there's a very small chance of malware coming in from the App Store, and (again my opinion) more polished indie apps like Ulysses, Things, Fantastical etc. keep the iPhone ahead in my book.

I think notifications are perfectly fine on iPhones. I've not used android for 4 years now, but if their notifications are the same as they were in 2016 (or just marginally different) then I don't miss much. I confess point 2 sounds very appealing. I do use custom DNS for adblocking, so I don't think I miss it on the iPhone, and tbh I've fallen in the rabbit hole of tinkering with my phone enough that I feel more productive without a phone I can tinker with.

No, notifications have changed a lot in the recent years. And you can get unified clipboard by installing app for your OS (windows or linux) through playstore. You should try a new pixel device to see the improvement.

Some apps are better on iOS but it's not a big difference because some apps are better on android as well. People care about different apps in the end.