Android and iOS are very different operating systems, and both come with very distinct advantages and disadvantages for businesses that want to equip their employees with company owned phones.
This article summarizes what we at Inki.tech have learned how iOS and Android devices work for businesses, based on our experience as a Device-as-a-Service provider that rents smartphones to companies.
Android advantages
Android’s main advantages are flexibility and customization. Android has a vast and diverse hardware ecosystem, with devices at every price point and for every conceivable use case.
In terms of software advantages, Android has deep customizability through custom launchers.
Another software advantage is “Work Profile” which offers granular control at separating corporate and personal data on a user’s device. The Work Profile feature is great for businesses that have a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) policy.
Another advantage of Android is that it has better integration with Windows devices compared to iOS.
Overall, organizations that prioritize cost control and hardware flexibility are better served by Android.
iOS advantages
iOS’s main advantages are security, simplicity, and the Apple ecosystem integration.
iOS is a closed operating system and is built with security in mind. This includes hardware-level encryption through Secure Enclave, mandatory app sandboxing and long-term security updates.
Another iOS advantage is uniformity. All iOS devices have the exact same UI, and almost always the exact same features.
This uniformity greatly simplifies device management and reduces IT overhead and long-term support costs.
iOS devices are more expensive to purchase than Android ones, but the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is very competitive, since iOS devices retain their performance and value over time much better than Android devices.
For businesses already invested in Apple’s hardware ecosystem, the seamless integration between iPhone, Mac, and iPad is usually a decisive factor in choosing an iOS device.
Android advantages
Lower cost
If a business has a small budget available for acquiring devices, then Android is realistically its only option.
For example, unlike iOS, Android has a large variety of affordable phones in the €150 to €200 price segment.
The cheapest iOS device usually starts at around €500, and those are old iPhones that are 3-4 years old. Brand new Android midrange phones start as low as €400, and come with excellent hardware for the price.
This price difference allows procurement teams to not only acquire more devices for the same budget but also to buy essential accessories like protective cases, chargers, insurance, extended warranties and more.
Another cost benefit is that Android devices are often easier and cheaper to repair than iOS devices.
Replacement components such as screens, batteries, and charging ports are widely available from multiple third-party suppliers and are generally much less expensive than Apple’s proprietary parts.
To be fair, repairability might not matter to most people. Many companies replace their devices every 2-3 years, in which case repairs are handled either by warranty or insurance.
Unfortunately, Android’s is fragmented with thousands of distinct device models, screen sizes and resolutions, and multiple different OS versions.
This fragmentation often turns out to be a hidden cost, since it complicates device management through MDMs, software development and deployment, employee onboarding etc.
Hardware diversity
Another big advantage for Android is huge hardware variety. Simply put, Android supports all sorts of devices, that are built for very specific niches and business situations.
One such example are durable phones designed for challenging work environments (factory floors, construction sites, in logistics, etc.) such as the Samsung Galaxy XCover 7 Pro.
In fact, Android is often the only choice for industries that operate in harsh environments.
Apple offers no official ruggedized devices. The closest option are third-party vendors that sell “rugged cases”.
Other types of specialized commercial hardware include Android-based point-of-sale (POS) terminals, inventory management scanners, and interactive kiosks etc.
For certain businesses, this sort of specialized hardware transforms Android from a preference into a necessity.
Unfortunately, the downside of this hardware variety is inconsistent performance. Flagship devices generally deliver smooth, reliable performance, while lower-cost devices can be prone to lag and slowdowns over time, often due to less powerful hardware and/or unoptimized manufacturer software.
Android customization and custom applications
Android has always allowed much more customization compared to iOS. For business users, this extra customization allows using custom applications and even custom launchers.
An Android launcher is the part of the UI that includes the home screen and app drawer. Crucially, the launcher is completely customizable.
By using a custom launcher, a business can create a completely uniform look and feel and apply it to all Android devices in their company, so they all look the same.
Tools like Samsung’s Knox Configure and Microsoft Launch (an Intune feature) allow the IT department to control nearly every visual setting on the device: grid size, app order, and placement of web links on the home screen, as well as configure the dock and search bar, custom boot-up animations, home screen wallpaper featuring the company logo etc.
Launchers can also be used to lock a device into a kiosk mode, restricting it to a single application (e.g., a payment terminal) or a pre-approved set of multiple applications (e.g., an inventory management tool with a calculator and a communication app).
Unique Android business features
Android manufacturers such as Samsung and Google have developed unique hardware and software productivity features that have no direct equivalent in the iOS world.
Samsung DeX: turn smartphone into a portable desktop
Samsung’s Desktop Experience, or DeX, allows a user to connect their high-end Galaxy smartphone or tablet to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, creating a full-fledged, PC-like desktop environment powered by the mobile device.
Samsung has worked with developers to optimize key business applications, including the Microsoft Office 365 suite and Adobe’s creative apps, to function seamlessly in this desktop mode.
Google Pixel: advanced AI features
Pixel phones have custom-built Tensor processors and advanced, on-device artificial intelligence (AI) to automate and accelerate common knowledge-worker tasks.
Key AI-powered features exclusive to Pixel devices include:
Live Translate: This feature provides real-time translation of text messages, live conversations, and text viewed through the camera, often without requiring an active internet connection or a separate application.
AI-Powered Summarization: Using its Gemini AI model, Pixel can summarize long email threads, transcribe and summarize recorded meetings or interviews, and distil lengthy documents.
Intelligent Call and Recorder Features: The “Hold for Me” feature lets Google Assistant wait on hold during a phone call and notifies the user when a human representative is on the line. The Recorder app also can create instant, speaker-labelled transcripts of meetings, which is a great timesaver for most users.
The Android Work Profile
Android’s Work Profile feature is specifically designed for companies that work with Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) program.
The Android Work Profile creates a dedicated, cryptographically separate container on the device that houses all business applications and their associated data.
This separation is made visually clear to the end-user; work applications are typically badged with a distinct briefcase icon, and they appear in a separate tab within the app drawer, creating an unambiguous distinction between the “work side” and “personal side” of the phone.
From a management perspective, IT administrators have no visibility or control over the applications and data residing in the user’s personal profile.
The process for employee offboarding is also clean and legally sound. When an employee leaves the company, an IT administrator can remotely issue a command that wipes the entire work profile and all its contents.
This action has no effect on the user’s personal data, photos, or applications, ensuring a clean break that protects corporate assets without destroying personal property.
Better integration with Windows
Android offers a significantly deeper, more feature-rich, and more seamless integration with the Windows desktop environment than iOS.
One such example is Microsoft’s Link to Windows application on Android and the corresponding Phone Link app on Windows 11. While a version of this app exists for iPhone, the functionality is more limited. On Android, particularly on Samsung devices where the app is often pre-installed, the integration is profound. Users can not only manage notifications, calls, and messages, but also:
Full Screen Mirroring: Project their phone’s entire screen onto their PC and interact with any Android app using their computer’s mouse and keyboard.
Seamless File Transfer: Easily drag and drop files of any type between the phone and the PC.
Cross-Device Control: Use advanced features like “Cross Control,” which allows the PC’s mouse and keyboard to move seamlessly off the edge of the monitor and onto the phone’s screen to control it directly.
Shared Clipboard: Copy text or images on one device and paste them on the other.
The experience on iOS is comparatively basic. Due to the restrictive nature of Apple’s OS, the iPhone integration with Phone Link primarily relies on a Bluetooth connection and is generally limited to managing calls, contacts, and notifications.
iOS advantages
For businesses, the advantages of iOS advantage are better security features, simpler UI, uniformity, and integration with the wider Apple ecosystem.
Better security
The iOS operating system is completely closed and controlled by Apple itself, which makes it less vulnerable to malware and fragmentation-related vulnerabilities than Android.
This “secure by design” approach makes it a popular choice for risk-averse organizations operating in highly regulated industries like finance, healthcare, and government.
Key security features include:
The Secure Boot Chain ensures that every piece of software on an iOS device, such as apps or the bootloader itself, is cryptographically signed by Apple before it is allowed to run, preventing low-level tampering.
Secure Enclave is a dedicated and isolated co-processor built into Apple’s SoCs. This enclave handles all cryptographic operations and securely stores the most sensitive data, such as biometric information (Face ID, Touch ID) and the keys used for data encryption.
Mandatory App Sandboxing: Every third-party application on iOS runs in its own tightly restricted “sandbox.” This is a kernel-level enforcement that isolates the app from everything else on the phone. Even if a malicious app were to make it onto the device, its sandbox would prevent it from accessing corporate data in other applications (like Outlook or Salesforce) or from compromising the system itself.
Universal and Timely OS Updates: When Apple discovers a vulnerability and releases a security patch, that update is made available to all supported devices—including models that are several years old—simultaneously and directly from Apple. This allows an IT department to patch its entire fleet within days, closing the window of vulnerability across the board.
Uniformity and quick implementation
The fact that iOS is the only operating system for iPhones dramatically simplifies the work of IT departments.
An IT administrator managing an iOS fleet deals with one hardware manufacturer, one core operating system, and one predictable update schedule.
They can create a single configuration profile and be confident it will work identically across all managed iPhones.
By comparison, an admin managing Android, has to account for devices from multiple OEMs, each with its own software “skin,” hardware variations, and disparate update timelines.
This means they often must make multiple different configurations, one for each type of Android devices.
Managing iOS and macOS devices is typically done through Apple Business Manager (ABM), a free web-based portal.
Apple Business Manager can also be integrated with Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to enable true “zero-touch” deployment.
Devices purchased directly from Apple or an authorized reseller can have their serial numbers automatically added to an organization’s ABM account.
Then, when the device is turned on for the first time, it automatically enrolls itself in the company’s MDM, downloads pre-defined configurations and security policies, and installs required applications, all without any manual intervention from the IT department.
Apple’s MDM framework itself is mature, powerful, and well-documented, offering extensive APIs that allow for granular control over almost every feature on an iOS device.
Users are familiar with iOS
Many users consider iOS has a more intuitive, polished, and user-friendly experience compared to Android. In fact, a major selling point of iPhones and Apple devices in general is that they “just work” without any tinkering or modifications.
IOS devices are also very common and widespread, which means that most employees are already familiar with how an iPhone works. This means an employee needs little or no training to learn a device and start being productive with it.
For a business, these factors have direct financial implications. An employee who is happy with and proficient in using their primary work tool will be more productive and engaged. An intuitive device that “just works” requires less formal training for new employees, lowering onboarding costs.
Excellent integration with Apple ecosystem
All iPhones are deeply integrated with all other devices in the Apple ecosystem, such as MacBooks, Mac minis and iPads.
This seamless, deep integration between the iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch creates a powerful and cohesive ecosystem that unlocks unique productivity features and save significant amounts of time when switching from one device to another.
Cumulatively, across dozens of such micro-transactions in a workday, these efficiencies add up to significant productivity gains.
Organizations that mostly gravitate towards Apple devices are much better served by iPhones because of this deep integration with the Apple ecosystem.
Very long useful life
Compared to Android, iPhones have a higher initial price. However, the actual Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be lower in some cases than Android phones.
This is driven by two key factors: a longer useful lifespan due to extended software support, and a significantly higher residual value at the end of that life.
Apple has a proven track record of providing major iOS updates and, more importantly, critical security patches for its devices for many years—often five to seven years or more. This long-term support ensures that devices remain secure, compliant, and compatible with the latest business applications for an extended period.
This allows businesses to keep devices in service for a full three-to-five-year refresh cycle, and potentially even longer for less-critical roles, without compromising security.
In addition to a longer service life, iPhones consistently retain their value better than any other smartphone on the market. This higher resale or trade-in value is a direct financial recovery at the end of the device’s lifecycle.
Software improvements for BYOD
Historically, Android’s Work Profile offered a superior model for BYOD deployments by guaranteeing employee privacy.
However, Apple has made significant architectural strides in recent years to address this gap, making iOS a much more viable and secure option for modern BYOD strategies.
In iOS 15 Apple introduced a feature called account-driven User Enrollment. This significantly improves how corporate data and personal data are stored and separated on a personal device.
When a user enrolls their device using this method, iOS creates a cryptographically separate APFS (Apple File System) volume on the device’s storage.
All managed applications and their associated corporate data are stored exclusively within this encrypted partition, completely isolated from the user’s personal data and apps, which reside on the main system volume.
From the IT administrator’s perspective, management capabilities are strictly confined to this new work volume. The MDM server has no visibility into the user’s personal apps, data, or activity.
Critically, IT can no longer perform system-wide commands on a user-enrolled device, such as a remote factory wipe. The only wipe command available is one that erases the corporate APFS volume, leaving all personal data untouched. This brings the privacy guarantees of iOS much closer to parity with the Android Work Profile.
This enhanced data separation is complemented by strong, user-centric privacy features like App Tracking Transparency (ATT), which requires every app to obtain explicit user consent before it can track their activity across other companies’ apps and websites.
