Today we are going to talk about alternatives to the iPhone. While we are an iPhone focused publication and online store, at times our friends and readers would need to know if there is indeed a good alternative to the pricey Malaysian iPhones.
And some of you would know that after awhile, updating your iPhone becomes impossible as the hardware becomes to slow to accommodate the iOS updates. And while most of us would love an iPhone, not all of us could afford one especially on a bi-yearly basis.
What if you could find some good alternatives to the iPhone? Here is where we come in and hopefully play a role in helping you make your purchase decision. Before we start, here is the table where we base our top 5 iPhone alternatives on. You will notice that only Android phones are mentioned as Blackberry seems to be tanking while Microsoft isn’t making much headway withe the Lumia brand either.1
We have quoted both Vellamo Metal and BaseMark OS II as official benchmarks to base our conclusions upon rather than Antutu. This is because Antutu’s benchmark has been proven to be gamed by companies like Samsung, among others. 2
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1) The Longest Lasting Alternative Phone : Google Nexus 6
While the Nexus 6 saw its price increase to those of premium Android, it has always been the standard for Android phones. Blessed with powerful processors, RAM and the ability to update the OS to the latest version, the Nexus is a great phone to get.
We usually recommend our friends to get the Nexus instead of Samsung Galaxy S series due to the fact that Google never fails to support the updating their phones with the latest firmware for a longer period of time compared to Samsung.
As such, with your security and fears of being hacked due to some exploit taken care of, the Google Nexus 6 is the best if you with to keep your phone for a long time.
2) The Best Value For Money Phone : Asus Zenfone 2
Topping our scale for best alternatives to the iPhone is Asus’ offering. The Zenfone 2 comes affordably priced and is targeted at the price and performance conscious users. It tops our performance/price ratio with a healthy score of 4.15 edging out Xiaomi’s Mi4. On the other hand, Meizu’s MX4 Pro is not only expensive, but doesn’t perform well on BaseMark’s benchmark.
Coming in at a very close second place would be Xiaomi’s Mi4, which surprisingly performed better on the BaseMark OS II benchmark compared to the upcoming Mi4i.
3) Best Performance : Samsung Galaxy S6
The Samsung Galaxy S6 blew away the competition across benchmark tests as their custom made Exynos SoC (System On Chip) handily outperformed Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, which is installed in majority of the competing Android smart phones. That tells us that a vertical companies like Apple and Samsung, would probably continue to do better than non vertical ones because they control their own design and manufacturing.
However, the Samsung Galaxy S6 does not come cheap and for that price, you might want to switch to the iPhone and the Apple Appstore instead.
Rather, unless Samsung releases quality low end phones that competes with the Huawei, Asus and Xiaomi, they will see both spectrums of their business being reduced as the performance of a value for money phone like the Asus Zenfone 2 might already be good enough for most people.
4) Notable Mentions : Huawei Honor 6 And Xiaomi Mi4
Rounding out our list of awesome alternatives to the iPhone 6 are the Huawei Honor 6 and Xiaomi Mi4. We have mentioned about the Mi4 previously as a value for money phone which delivers performance at a budget. The Honor 6 however, is powered by the octa-core Kirin system on chip and delivers reasonable performance and a great screen.
However for that price, we would recommend that you consider the Asus Zenfone 2 first and only consider the Honor 6 if both the Asus and the Huawei are not available.
Alternatives To The iPhone 6 : Conclusion
We love the iPhone and the various iOS apps that comes with it, but at times you need alternatives. As such, the Asus Zenfone 2 is your best way to own an affordable Android phone. One thing you need to consider when switching over to Android phones would be, would your phone be upgradable after twelve months?
You see, Apple has every reason to give you updates. Firstly, they make a healthy yearly profit from the Apple Appstore.3 Secondly, they have limited phone models and screen sizes to support.
On the other hand, smartphone manufacturers like LG and Samsung, do not profit from the Google Playstore, plus the latest version of Android needs to be adjusted in order for the various components of their phone to work. Thus, providing long term updates to you might not be a viable idea for these phone manufacturers.
And that is why, ensuring that you have an easily updatable phone (the Google Nexus 6), or that you are able to switch over to the CyanogenMod, are crucial if you want to keep your phone secure.
However, if you do have the cash, stick to the iPhone. The strength and quality of apps on the iOS Appstore is something Android phones cannot compete with for now. Plus the iOS is a much more efficient operating system compared to the Android.
p/s: We won’t post much about Android phones as our focus are on iPhone users =)