Last week, I wrote about how difficult it’s going to be for me to keep using my iPhone 7 Plus for the next five or six months until the iPhone 8 comes out. Why? Because I’ve held the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in my hand. Experiencing these phones and then going back to Apple’s three-year-old iPhone design feels like trading in a flat-panel LCD TV for an old CRT TV. You know, those crazy old TVs from the stone age that were practically as deep as they were wide. Seriously, Samsung’s designs are that good.
Unfortunately, as I explained earlier, there’s really no way that I can ditch my iPhone and jump ship to the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+, and it looks like I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Apple’s next-generation iPhone 8 is expected to pull the company’s smartphone design into the modern era, ditching the home button and the massive bezels in favor of a nearly bezel-less design similar to what we’ve seen on the Galaxy S8 and LG G6. Unfortunately, there’s a whole lot of time between now and late September. Making matters even worse are several recent reports that suggest Apple’s new iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus might launch in September, but the iPhone 8 might be pushed back until October or even November.
As sleek as Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are, and as long as the wait is between now and the release of the new iPhone 8, are iPhone users going to abandon ship? It’s certainly likely that some people will hop off of the Apple train and give Samsung’s sleek new smartphones a try, but it looks like most Apple users we’ve seen commenting about the Galaxy S8 plan to stay in Apple’s camp despite admiring Samsung’s latest work.
A recent thread on Reddit does a good job of capturing the general sentiment among most iPhone owners. They seem to agree that the new Galaxy S8 and S8+ are magnificent, but they’re sticking with their iPhones. Why? Long story short, it’s the same reason I’m sticking with my iPhone: the software. iOS is too smooth, third-party apps are too much better, integration across devices is too convenient, and updates are too fast. As great as the Galaxy S8 is, not many people are willing to give all that up for a nice design, even one as nice as Samsung’s.
Head over to the Reddit thread for specifics, and let me know on Twitter if you plan to jump ship from an iPhone to a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+.
