Today it seems more impossible than ever to decide. As a lifelong Android user, I'm wondering whether I should switch to iOS.
But why? Because I'm fed up with changing smartphone for the sole reason that there are no more software updates!
You'll tell me to get a Google Pixel and get 7 years of updates. Agreed, but the price isn't as good and it seems a little less quality than an iPhone.
I'm a daily user of free and opensource software, with Linux on all my PCs. My emails, calendar, contacts, photos, files... are not hosted by GAFAM and I want to keep it that way. My main use for my smartphone: photos, GPS, web reading, RSS reading, chatting. That's about it.
In terms of smartphones, you always have to choose between the plague and the colera, between Google or Apple.
So what's the best choice in 2024 for a user like me, iOS or Android?
All phones reach a point where people don't support them anymore, on both Android and iOS. However, Android does 2 things right that make it much better in my opinion:
1. Provide the AOSP so the community can provide support for outdated devices via LineageOS/CalyxOS style forked ROMs
2. Give all phones the ability to directly install software packages (even over ADB) so that they can still be used when they lose Play Store support or even once the TLS is outdated.
You're welcome to check if the grass is any greener on iOS, but there hasn't ever been an iPhone with an unlockable bootloader. Once Apple cuts support for your device it's over, which is a possibility that can at least be precluded on some Android devices.