Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android? If you pit users of one operating system against the other, the debate will continue on indefinitely, making it difficult to choose a winner. Both iPhone and Android users will point out the differences in the operating systems and brag about their favourite features. Now, a new study has given Android users another reason to brag about their superiority over those using iPhones. The study looked at the driving habits of both groups. And, according to the findings, Android users were found to be safer and better drivers than iPhone users.
This may appear strange to some, but here’s a full description of how the research was conducted.
The study was undertaken by a car insurance comparison service named Jerry. The sample pool for this study was quite big as it analysed the driving trends of 20,000 drivers in the US over a 14-day period. The conclusions were reached only after observing these drivers for over 13 million kilometres of driving in those 14 days.
A report in Android Authority stated that the test was divided into six categories — 1) overall safe driving, 2) distracted driving, 3) speed, 4) turning, 5) accelerating, and 6) braking.
In all these six categories, Android users proved to be the safer drivers. In “distracted driving”, Android users scored six points more than their iPhone counterparts, making it the category with the biggest difference in performance between the two groups.
To dig deeper into this study, here are some interesting observations.
In these cases, underlying conditions favoured iPhone users but Android users won anyway. Single Android users outperformed married iPhone users. Android users who didn’t own a home scored more points than home-owning iPhone users. Android users with low credit scores were better drivers than iPhone users with the best credit scores. Android users without a high school diploma scored higher than iPhone users with advanced degrees.
Apart from the general findings, there were a few noteworthy insights. For example, older married people, homeowners who lived in the Midwest, have bachelor’s or more advanced degrees, and stronger credit ratings scored highest overall across both platforms.