A story of rushed Android phones: How Apple’s iPhone is winning in (slow) innovation

Of course, these photos are still flagship-grade, but they can be noticeably weaker when compared to images captured by phones like the Pixel 6 Pro (which likes to keep things more natural) or even the iPhone 13 Pro, which itself often likes to add excessive sharpening and highlights here and there.

If you’d like to find out more, take a look at our Galaxy S22 Ultra vs iPhone 13 Pro Max vs Pixel 6 Pro camera comparison.You don’t have to take my word for it.

Google Pixel 6: The most embarrassing Google launch for the best Pixel ever

Speaking of the Pixel 6, I can’t avoid mentioning the abundance of software bugs that have troubled Google’s ambitious flagships. It’s seriously hard to name all the bugs even for me, who uses a Pixel 6 Pro daily.

It was everything from a painfully slow fingerprint reader, annoyingly jumpy auto-brightness, and even a totally broken fingerprint reader, which my cousin had to tolerate for months before a fix arrived.

Speaking of fixing things, Google did indeed address most if not all of the Pixel 6’s bugs, but what’s hard to believe is the speed with which the search engine giant reacted to the problems.

To wrap up the Google conversation, in the midst of the buggy launch of the Pixel 6, the company even had to issue a statement where it asked its users to help it test a fix for a connectivity bug, which is… an interesting way to connect with your customers.

Galaxy S20 Ultra: Focus Pocus, Failed Autofocus

Rhyme focus with focus? Totally.

We’re back with Samsung.

Of course, we can’t skip the Galaxy S20 Ultra – Samsung’s all-in flagship from 2020, which launched with a price tag of $1,400. While the price alone suggested the S20 Ultra would be a tough sale, Samsung made sure the phone also came with painfully inconsistent autofocus, “aided” by a ToF sensor for depth, which proved to be a recipe for disaster.

Things got slightly better after multiple software updates, but the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s autofocusing issues were never fully addressed, so the camera experience on this ultra-ambitious flagship remained unreliable.

The interesting thing is that the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, from the now-dead Note lineup, launched just six months later, and this device felt like what the S20 Ultra was always meant to be (but never was).

The Note 20 Ultra had reliable autofocus and overall more consistent and refined camera system. Plus it had a further-reaching periscope zoom lens, an S-Pen, and on top of that it was also cheaper. Crazy, right?

The worst part? The Microsoft Duo 2 didn’t really fix many of the above-mentioned issues. The form-factor remains bizzare, the camera is still bad, and the performance is still unreliable.

Sorry, Microsoft. Take your time with the Duo 3.

Galaxy Fold: Samsung had to apologize for this one

Samsung is like Adele on a Grammy night. It just keeps coming back on stage.

Here we have something extraordinary, and I say that without any irony because I’m talking about the first widely-available foldable phone – the Galaxy Fold. Yes, Samsung beat everyone to the punch on this one, but those who bought the $2,000 Galaxy Fold ended up being the ones who were   beaten up.

To get to the point, the first-gen Galaxy Fold felt like a prototype device that somehow managed to escape the boardroom and jump into reviewers’ hands and, of course, later onto the shelves.

The ridiculously tiny front screen, massive crease and inner notch made the Fold a mishmash of the worst phone-tablet combo, but the wonky hinge and damage-prone plastic screen were what made it unfathomable.

Samsung’s CEO apologized to everyone, admitting that the phone was rushed and review units were recalled. Similarly to the Microsoft Duo 2 case, Samsung is yet to address some of the imperfections of the very first Fold.

Much unlike Apple, if Android phone-makers want to stand out (which they do), they must be quick to bring new things to the table. It’s how Huawei managed to change the phone market overnight. The thing is that Huawei’s phones were progressive but still very reliable.

But the same can’t be said about certain progressive Andorid phones today. At least not while we keep getting new Android flagships with unoptimized new processors, camera sensors, and software.

If we put the Pixel 6 and Galaxy S22 Ultra aside, the Moto Edge X30 was the first phone to feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. This phone was announced in China months before it became available in more regions.

Early reviews showed poor RAM management and extremely poor video performance, which didn’t take any advantage of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1’s capabilities. This is an educated guess more than a fact, but I think it’s safe to assume that Lenovo’s rush to be first was what led to the underwhelming performance of the Edge X30.

Naturally, a big reason for such mishaps is that too many Android phone-makers try to compete to be first in introducing some features that often perform poorly. Android phones have always needed something that makes them stand out in the sea of alternatives, so they are much more likely to take a risk than Apple’s iPhone.

Why Apple wins in (slow) innovation 

Apple is in a very favorable position as there isn’t another phone out there which runs iOS, so for some users deeply stuck in Apple’s ecosystem, there’s literally no other option because if they switch to Android, this means they might need to switch to Windows, an Android tablet, a different pair of earbuds, smartwatch, etc.

But I dare to say I’ve also noticed another interesting pattern, this time from the customer’s perspective. It appears as if Android users are more inclined to tolerate bugs and even hardware problems on phones because they are way more likely to opt for cutting-edge tech (on flagships), which isn’t always mature. Or, some Android users pay less for a budget device without having high expectations, which naturally leads them to believe it’s OK for the phone to underperform.

Also, when it comes to holding phone-makers accountable for bugs and hardware issues, Android brands don’t have the same amount of social media attention as Apple, so when problems do arise, they don’t always “blow up” and reach scandal-level hype like some Apple stories.

Let’s start making reliable phones

Regardless, the one thing I know is that reviewers, or let alone customers, shouldn’t be the ones who test-drive phones which cost more than a used car in Eastern Europe.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra should have a reliable camera right out of the box, given that its predecessor did and that the camera experience is this phone’s main focus. The Pixel 6 should’ve had a usable fingerprint reader right when it launched, not five months later. And experiments like the Galaxy Fold and Microsoft Duo just shouldn’t exist.

Take Oppo, for instance. Upon launching the Oppo Find N, the Chinese brand revealed that they’ve been working on prototypes for years and years to come to that final product, which at first glance looks much more refined than any foldable phone Samsun’s ever released, and the South Korean company is soon expected to launch the fourth iteration of the Z Fold in August 2022.

Sorry not sorry to bring up Apple again, but you just know that the iPhone-maker just won’t make its customers pay $2,000 for a prototype of a foldable iPhone. Sure, Apple is slow at innovation, but that’s partly why its customers find Apple products less risky.

On the bright side, there’s plenty of time for improvement. Slab phones are going as strong as ever, so Samsung, Google, Motorola, and even Apple will have plenty of chances to redeem themselves and sell phones that work as they should.

And when it comes to the cutting edge stuff, we’re still waiting for the real slab replacement – the rollable/slidable phones. It’s expected that someone between Samsung and Oppo will be the first manufacturer to launch such a device sometime in 2023, and I just want to say it right now:

Please. We don’t want another Galaxy Fold. Push it back to 2024 if necessary. Make it usable. We shouldn’t have to beta-test your phones for you.