I just canceled my Pixel 9 Pro Fold order and bought the iPhone 16 Pro Max instead – here’s why
So here’s the thing: I want to ditch my iPhone and move to Android so badly, yet every time I verge on making the move, Apple pulls me back in.
Last year, I used a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra for a week and really enjoyed it. But it was for an experiment and I was just waiting for the iPhone 15 Pro Max to launch. In September, titanium iPhones appeared, and just like that I was back to using iOS within my ever-growing Apple walled garden.
This year was different, however, and it’s the closest I’ve ever come to saying goodbye to the iPhone for good, well, at least for 12 months. After seeing the reveal of Google’s new flagship smartphones in August, I was instantly intrigued by the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. You see, up until very recently my idea of a folding phone was large gaps, peeling screen protectors, and a bulky footprint, but that all changed when I held a 9 Pro Fold at the store.
In our Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold review, US Mobiles Editor, Philip Berne wrote, “When I showed the Pixel 9 Pro Fold to iPhone-toting friends and family they were all amazed, without fail. It’s the first foldable that looks… normal, they all said. How normal? It isn’t just that the front is the exact same size and shape as the Pixel 9. Being thin helps a lot – the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is so thin that it’s less bulky than my iPhone 15 Pro Max if I keep the iPhone in a case.”
I may as well be one of his friends or a family member because that’s exactly how I felt after just a few minutes with the 9 Pro Fold. For the first time in a long time, it felt like I was holding innovation in the consumer tech space and I felt like a kid again. Obviously, my idea of foldables was skewed and there are lots like Google’s offering, but when most of the tech you use outside of work is “Designed by Apple in California” you lose a sense of what something genuinely refreshing to use feels like. Now that’s not a diss at Apple, my Mac, my iPad, and my iPhone all work exactly how I want my technology to work, but when you’ve used incremental updates of the same products for nearly 15 years, at some point you want to see if the grass is greener on the other side.
So I did it. I pre-ordered a Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold. I was finally going to sell my iPhone and try Android 15 for a year. But then things changed.
Groundhog Day
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold was officially released on September 4 but my preorder with EE, one of the biggest networks in the UK. never arrived. I waited patiently, excited to test out Google Gemini built into Android and get my first taste of a folding smartphone with a beautiful 8-inch display. For whatever reason my preorder kept getting pushed back, September 5, September 6, September 7, September 8… And then it happened: Apple’s iPhone 16 event on September 9.
At the event, Apple showcased the iPhone 16 Pro Max alongside the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup. The hardware is an incremental improvement over my 15 Pro Max, but in our early hands-on iPhone 16 Pro Max review, Editor At Large, Lance Ulanoff, wrote, “The question is, can the small or even invisible changes add up to something big? Based on my brief hands-on time with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, I’d say the answer is yes.”
For me, it’s not about the hardware, I own 2023’s best iPhone and it’s still a beast almost 12 months later. Instead, it was Apple’s ability at the event to make me feel like I couldn’t skip the first year of Apple Intelligence. Yes, I’ll have access to Apple’s AI on my iPad Pro M2 and my MacBook Pro M3 Pro, but the iPhone is at the core of the Apple ecosystem and it’s arguably the smartphone experience that will define Apple Intelligence’s success.
AI is pivotal to the success of iOS 18 and the new iPhones deemed, “the first iPhones built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence”, by Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook. With incremental updates coming over the next year, we’ll get to test out individual Apple Intelligence features as they cook in the oven and see just how much of an impact they can make on our day-to-day lives. I’m hoping at least one of Apple’s AI tools is as useful as Universal Clipboard, quite possibly my favorite Apple feature which allows me to copy and paste between all my products.
iPhone 16 Pro Max preorders are now live and yet again, I’ve got a new Apple smartphone to collect on launch day. I came so close to taking a leap of faith into Android, but stock delays, the fear of the unknown, and Apple’s ability to make you feel FOMO hooked me back in. I’m excited for a year of Apple Intelligence and I can’t wait until Siri has on-screen awareness to become the personal assistant in my pocket I’ve always wanted it to be. In around 11 months this cycle repeats itself, only next time Apple Intelligence will be less of an unknown and Google Gemini might be the way forward.