I've recently completed the long transition away from Apple products. My needs are probably very different to yours, but my primary focus is desktop/mobile computing with my phone circling around that. As of late, I had struggled to see any realistic future in the Mac platform and, as a result, decided it was best to change my daily devices completely.
It hasn't been altogether easy, but there is an alternative for anything. I've had iPhones since the very first model (the 3G might be the only one I skipped, come to think of it) with various Android devices used for work purposes along the way. Android is a little bit like Windows – it's come an incredibly long way in the last few years and there is such a wealth of great devices out there now at all price points that justifying an iPhone is starting to become pretty difficult.
One of the straws that broke the camel's back for me was the iPhone X – in order to get the best on offer (with that questionable notch), Apple decided you were going to have to pay over £1000 for it. I just found that unpalatable, especially when the devices I needed it to interact with on a daily basis – Mac computers – had become so dated and substandard. We are talking desktops that haven't been updated in 4 to 5 years, laptops with no keyboard travel and questionable durability. The total cost of ownership of being in the Apple ecosystem had simply become too high in my opinion, especially for what you are getting.
I foolishly decided to stay with Apple, skip the X and get an 8+, a decision I immediately regretted. That thing is just a rehashed design with a glass back. The front bezels look ancient and the 1080p LCD display, while good, doesn't justify the pricetag compared to some of the OLED stuff out there. I took it back within 14 days, played with a few different devices and settled on a Pixel 2 XL. I have absolutely no regrets – this is Android as it should be, an absolute joy to use. It's the best phone I've ever owned.
The danger for Apple is that once you start to switch, their entire ecosystem breaks down. You can't use iMessage on other devices, Notes and Reminders, iWork etc. Yes, there are web versions of some of this stuff, but not for Android. This protectionism is what could hurt them in the long run – you start to use Google Docs and Photos, Microsoft Office etc which works on anything. Then you start to question why you still need a Mac… and the slippery slope has begun.
I still need to have a Mac and iPad Pro as part of my day-to-day work but they are barely used any more. Now it's the Pixel, Surface Pro and a powerful desktop PC. For Messages/FaceTime there's SMS (which can be easily duplicated on your other devices using Pushbullet) and/or Hangouts/Skype. Notes is replaced by Simplenote or OneNote, Reminders by Microsoft To Do or Google Keep. For payments there's Android Pay/Samsung Pay. Again, so much choice.
This extends to the hardware side of things, too. When you see the choice of devices out there, it's fantastic what you can get for your money – flagship phones for 60 to 70% or less of an iPhone X. The mid-range stuff is just terrific; here in the UK you can buy a Huawei/Honor/Nokia device with a 5in+ HD display, aluminium chassis and fingerprint scanner for half the price of an iPhone SE.
One area where Apple is tough to beat is in the integration with iPhone and Apple Watch. They nailed that, IMO, and although there are lots of choices on the Android side of things never quite match up. My Airpods, on the other hand, works great with my Pixel and there's even an app that allows you to double tap for the excellent Google Assistant, making them more useful on Android than iOS!
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