The latest survey from BIGInsight covers the big political question of the day. No, not Obama vs. Romney, but Android vs. iOS. 9,000 adults belonging to various demographics were surveyed and the results would not put a smile on Tim Cook and Phil Schiller's faces. Apple has a problem going forward if they don't freshen up iOS which is getting a bit stodgy. The survey reveals that the Apple iPhone isn't like your grandma's smartphone, it IS your grandma's smartphone.
First, the general numbers are actually good for both platforms although they favor Android slightly. 53% of the 9,000 adults (18 and older) said that Android was hot while 51.4% said the same for iOS. But when the tabulations are broken down by demographic, the numbers tell a far more interesting story. Amongst the Millennials, formerly known as Generation Y and the youngest group in the survey, 64% called Android hot while 61.95% gave the same designation to iOS. For those born after WWII, the Gen X crowd, 58.6% felt Android was hot while iOS had support from 53.4%.
Is this your typical Apple iPhone 5 user?
Apple's iOS finally out-polled Android amongst the "Silent" generation. 46.8% of this group picked Apple as being hot while 41.4% selected the green robot. The problem here is that the Silent generation covers those born before 1946 which makes them 66 or older. Just like the commercial Samsung aired showing a Samsung Galaxy S III user waiting in line for the Apple iPhone 5 because he was saving the spot for his parents, this is the problem that Apple has today with iOS. Compared to the widgets, wallpaper and all of the customization available to Android users, iOS seems rather static.
Now that Cupertino has made the screen larger, it might be time for Apple to dip into the Android well once again and update iOS with some kind of customization including the use of widgets. If Apple refuses to freshen up its mobile OS, iOS could be stereotyped as the old person's OS, assuming that it hasn't happened already. The good news for Apple is that because this is an image problem and not a problem with the actual hardware, it can be fixed.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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