Here I am, back for my annual dive into the wide world of iOS. It’s become something of a tradition at this point — I finish my review of Google’s latest Pixel flagship, then almost immediately swap my SIM (now an eSIM) into Apple’s top Android rival to see if Cupertino’s latest and greatest can tempt me to switch. Usually, I know how things are going to go: Apple will put up a pretty good fight with solid cameras and excellent optimization, only to come up short in terms of the overall experience.
This year, however, I feel like there has been less change from one generation of Android flagship to the next from the two most prominent players in the US. The Galaxy S25 line barely needed to exist, and the Pixel 10 series is the best phone Google has ever made, but it’s not life-changing — it’s still a Pixel, just better. This has opened the door for the iPhone 17 Pro to make an impression on me. So, I swapped to iOS for a month, and here’s how it went.