So right here’s the factor: I need to ditch my iPhone and transfer to Android so badly, but each time I verge on making the transfer, Apple pulls me again in.
Final yr, I used a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra for every week and actually loved it. Nevertheless it was for an experiment and I used to be simply ready for the iPhone 15 Professional Max to launch. In September, titanium iPhones appeared, and identical to that I used to be again to utilizing iOS inside my ever-growing Apple walled backyard.
This yr was completely different, nonetheless, and it’s the closest I’ve ever come to saying goodbye to the iPhone for good, properly, at the least for 12 months. After seeing the reveal of Google’s new flagship smartphones in August, I used to be immediately intrigued by the Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold. You see, up till very lately my concept of a folding cellphone was giant gaps, peeling display screen protectors, and a cumbersome footprint, however that each one modified after I held a 9 Professional Fold on the retailer.
In our Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review, US Mobiles Editor, Philip Berne wrote, “Once I confirmed the Pixel 9 Professional Fold to iPhone-toting family and friends they have been all amazed, with out fail. It’s the primary foldable that appears… regular, all of them mentioned. How regular? It isn’t simply that the entrance is the very same measurement and form because the Pixel 9. Being skinny helps so much – the Pixel 9 Professional Fold is so skinny that it’s much less cumbersome than my iPhone 15 Professional Max if I preserve the iPhone in a case.”
I’ll as properly be one in every of his pals or a member of the family as a result of that’s precisely how I felt after only a few minutes with the 9 Professional Fold. For the primary time in a very long time, it felt like I used to be holding innovation within the shopper tech area and I felt like a child once more. Clearly, my concept of foldables was skewed and there are heaps like Google’s providing, however when many of the tech you utilize outdoors of labor is “Designed by Apple in California” you lose a way of what one thing genuinely refreshing to make use of seems like. Now that’s not a diss at Apple, my Mac, my iPad, and my iPhone all work precisely how I would like my expertise to work, however whenever you’ve used incremental updates of the identical merchandise for practically 15 years, in some unspecified time in the future you need to see if the grass is greener on the opposite facet.
So I did it. I pre-ordered a Google Pixel 9 Professional Fold. I used to be lastly going to promote my iPhone and check out Android 15 for a yr. However then issues modified.
Groundhog Day
The Pixel 9 Professional Fold was formally launched on September 4 however my preorder with EE, one of many largest networks within the UK. by no means arrived. I waited patiently, excited to check out Google Gemini constructed into Android and get my first style of a folding smartphone with an exquisite 8-inch show. For no matter motive my preorder saved getting pushed again, September 5, September 6, September 7, September 8… After which it occurred: Apple’s iPhone 16 event on September 9.
On the occasion, Apple showcased the iPhone 16 Pro Max alongside the remainder of the iPhone 16 lineup. The {hardware} is an incremental enchancment over my 15 Professional Max, however in our early hands-on iPhone 16 Pro Max review, Editor At Giant, Lance Ulanoff, wrote, “The query is, can the small and even invisible adjustments add as much as one thing large? Based mostly on my temporary hands-on time with the iPhone 16 Professional Max, I might say the reply is sure.”
For me, it’s not concerning the {hardware}, I personal 2023’s best iPhone and it’s nonetheless a beast virtually 12 months later. As a substitute, it was Apple’s potential on the occasion to make me really feel like I couldn’t skip the primary yr of Apple Intelligence. Sure, I’ll have entry to Apple’s AI on my iPad Professional M2 and my MacBook Professional M3 Professional, however the iPhone is on the core of the Apple ecosystem and it’s arguably the smartphone expertise that may outline Apple Intelligence’s success.
AI is pivotal to the success of iOS 18 and the brand new iPhones deemed, “the primary iPhones constructed from the bottom up for Apple Intelligence”, by Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook. With incremental updates coming over the following yr, we’ll get to check out particular person Apple Intelligence features as they cook dinner within the oven and see simply how a lot of an affect they’ll make on our day-to-day lives. I’m hoping at the least one in every of Apple’s AI instruments is as helpful as Common Clipboard, fairly probably my favourite Apple function which permits me to repeat and paste between all my merchandise.
iPhone 16 Pro Max preorders are actually stay and but once more, I’ve obtained a brand new Apple smartphone to gather on launch day. I got here so near taking a leap of religion into Android, however inventory delays, the worry of the unknown, and Apple’s potential to make you’re feeling FOMO hooked me again in. I’m excited for a yr of Apple Intelligence and I can’t wait till Siri has on-screen consciousness to turn into the private assistant in my pocket I’ve at all times needed it to be. In round 11 months this cycle repeats itself, solely subsequent time Apple Intelligence will likely be much less of an unknown and Google Gemini may be the best way ahead.
