Still undecided on getting either an iPhone 6 or a Nexus 6? We assume you’re one of those consumers who isn’t a tryhard fan of either brand, or is at least willing to be open minded about this. This is a guide on deciding which phone to buy between the two.
We will not be telling you at the end of this to pick one phone over the other. Instead, we will rundown a comparison for both phones, feature for feature, and leave up the decision to you, based on what you personally want more from your phone.
In general, both premium range phones provide good performance and value for their price. As usual, the Android phone, in this case the Nexus, makes the iPhone look outdated in terms of specs, but Apple’s designers get more performance out of less, and retains its high reputation enough to justify the $ 100 gap to many consumers. Both are also big and wide phones, with visually stunning screens.
It should also be noted that this is the same iPhone 6 that was recently the subject of Bendgate. Some consumers found that their units were easily bent when they put them in their pockets. While it raises questions about Apple’s quality control, this was not a far reaching issue that affected most users. Statistically speaking, you shouldn’t run into the same problems if you decide to pick it, but you should know about it.
Processor
iPhone A8, 64bit, dual core, 1.4 GHz
Nexus Snapdragon 805, 32bit, quad core, 2.7 GHz
A direct comparison for each processor by specs isn’t really possible, but you can tell how it pays off performance wise.
RAM
iPhone 1GB RAM
Nexus 3GB RAM
Nexus gets a lot of use out of the 3GB RAM for multitasking, and can do so in a way that matches the iPhone’s smooth performance.
Software
iPhone iOS 8.1
Nexus Lollipop
Again, this is a situation where a direct comparison is potentially misleading, and is therefore not really tenable. Both phones will have the latest version of their software.
Dimensions
iPhone 158 x 78 x 7.1 mm
Nexus 160 x 83 x 10.1 mm
iPhone 172 g
Nexus 184 g
The iPhone is lighter and thinner, and the Nexus has a bigger surface to house a bigger screen, but these are very small differences between the two phones.
Building Materials
iPhone aluminum
Nexus, plastic with metal trim
iPhone’s building material of choice makes it seem like a better quality product, but the Nexus’ metal trim should make it seem more high quality than the average Android phone.
Colors
iPhone silver/gold/gray
Nexus blue/white
Screen Size
iPhone 5.5“ – 85 % of front screen
Nexus 5.96” – 100 % of front screen
As you can see, not only did Google make the Nexus slightly wider than the iPhone, but it made more use of that real estate to make a bigger screen.
Display
iPhone 1920 x 1080, 401 ppi, IPS
Nexus 2560 x 1440, 493 ppi, AMOLED
The iPhone’s screen can fill out the screen for 1080p video, and it performs well in terms of color range, contrast, viewing angles, etc, but the Nexus’ quad HD display creates undisputably sharper images, and of course, can display videos bigger, with its bigger screen.
As always, the AMOLED should give Nexus an edge over the iPhone, but Apple has designed around IPS so that the iPhone screen performs well in terms of contrast, color richness, etc. So on this end, they are actually about even.
Camera
iPhone 1.2MP front, 8MP rear, f/2.2
Nexus 2MP front, 13MP rear, f/2.0
Apple’s cameras are the guaranteed good performer here, but at least on paper, Nexus has slightly better specs for its cameras. Both will have optical image stabilization , dual LED flash, and HDR. The iPhone rear camera can do 240FPS slow motion capture at 720p, but can only record up to 1080p. The Nexus rear camera can record 4K 30FPS.
Storage
iPhone 16, 64, 128 GB
Nexus 32, 64 GB
Clearly, iPhone goes ahead with more options and higher maximum storage (at a significantly higher price) but sadly, both phones can’t be expanded via MicroSD.
Launch Price
iPhone $ 750
Nexus $ 650
Your experience when it comes to applying for either phone on your carrier of choice may vary.
Extra Features
Apple’s touch ID sensor is a definitive security edge over the Nexus, not only in that it controls access to the phone on its own, but it can also be used by 3rd party apps to raise app security. Similarly, thanks to the new Reachability feature that lets consumers use it one handed, the iPhone has the edge when it comes to usability.
The Nexus’ dual front facing speakers are the only sensible design choice when it comes to audio. It also comes with integrated wireless charging and allegedly has water resistance, although this hasn’t been tested. It also has amazing fast charging, that will give you hours of use from only fifteen minutes of charging.
