I’m bracing myself for the eye-rolls and smothered laughter from those who know me. “Oh, how the (high and) mighty have fallen”, they’ll say. Yes, I’ve been a fierce advocate for the Apple ecosystem – some might even say a “fanboy.” I’ve owned and used an array of Apple products over the years. However, I’m not entirely unyielding. I’ve also owned a few Android and even Blackberry devices, usually as a secondary work phone or testing device. I even used the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 as my primary phone for a few months, but I just couldn’t stick with it. At the time, Android wasn’t as mature or as cohesive a platform as iOS, and that seamless integration with the rest of the ecosystem was one thing that kept me loyal. The other was build quality.

Apple is renowned for its stylish blend of materials, colors, and form that captivate enough to make people willing to pay the price. It’s an addiction that people seem to want. The user experience is second to none. The iPhone is one of the few phones that come without a user manual, which in itself is quite a statement. The iPhone, built around the iPod, naturally inherited years of R&D in that department. To this day, I’ve not encountered another mobile device that can rival an iPhone in sound quality.

Now, it may sound like I’m abandoning something truly valuable. However, two critical reasons are prompting me to do so: Innovation, and price. I’ve always been willing to pay a premium for Apple devices because they offered something that other manufacturers didn’t. In recent years, though, that gap has closed quickly. My current iPhone 7 Plus 128GB has been the most disappointing Apple device I’ve owned in a while. While it delivers on aesthetics, and maintains fantastic battery life even now, it falls short with the new dual-camera setup. I found it hard to ignore the lack of an OLED screen, which seemed to be everywhere, except on the iPhone.

What’s more, a friend recently got an iPhone 8. Despite major improvements in the camera and aesthetics, it was largely the same phone. Moore’s law is losing its relevance and innovation appears to be stalling. Worryingly, this seems to be the case only with Apple, while the “Android did it first” arguments were starting to become more convincing. I give credit where it’s due, Apple’s marketing machine is a finely tuned apparatus. Android manufacturers are bursting with innovation, and for the first time in years, Apple seems to be trailing. This realization marked the beginning of a paradigm shift for me and the start of something new.

Coincidentally, my Apple TV, iPhone, and Apple Watch all needed replacing around the same time. The ineffectiveness of my 2nd generation Apple TV had me considering the Xiaomi Mi box. The Apple Watch, despite its merits, looked too similar to my 5-year-old model and was considerably more expensive than equivalent devices.