The system design rejects following up on iOS 26. Why do Android manufacturers no longer "look up to" Apple?

It's quite embarrassing that no Android phone manufacturers are willing to "copy" iOS 26, the iOS system with the most significant UI changes in the past twelve years.

In 2007, Apple launched the first - generation iPhone, inaugurating a new era of smartphones. The appearance of the iPhone 4S in 2011 further solidified Apple's leading position in the mobile phone industry. For a long time afterwards, the iPhone led the design direction of smartphones. Features such as the dark mode, gesture control, application permission management mechanism, and the integration of the control center and notifications introduced by Apple were all emulated by Android phone manufacturers. However, in the face of iOS 26, Chen Xi, the design director of ColorOS, said that they would not follow this time.

(Source: Screenshot from Weibo)

Whether Apple has lost its leading position in the mobile phone industry has been discussed countless times by the media and netizens. However, Android phone manufacturers are still learning from and paying tribute to many of Apple's significant designs and features. Even the Dynamic Island, which has been criticized by many netizens, has been adapted by several Android phone manufacturers.

However, after the release of iOS 26, Chen Xi, a designer from OPPO ColorOS, said that they refused to follow. Other manufacturers showed a cold attitude and did not show any intention of following. Facing iOS, manufacturers seem to have changed from admiration to "disdain".

Android Manufacturers No Longer Look Up to Apple

Many of the grand promises Apple made at WWDC 2024 have not been fulfilled yet. Therefore, the content Apple released at WWDC 2025 was relatively conservative, mainly focusing on the new UI design of iOS 26, "Liquid Glass". However, after the release of iOS 26, the topic "#iOS26 is Ugly#" quickly topped the Weibo hot - search list and stayed there for 8 hours and 59 minutes, with a reading volume of up to 79.056 million. Netizens were not satisfied with the changes in iOS 26.

(Source: Screenshot from Weibo)

Many netizens on Zhihu said that iOS 26 only focuses on aesthetics and ignores practicality. The display effect has a chaotic color scheme, making it seem like a MIUI with a non - mainstream theme, and even worse than Windows Vista, which sacrifices performance for aesthetics.

Affected by Symbian and Windows, the Android system was initially filled with various 3D patterns and skeuomorphic elements. The transition from skeuomorphism to flat design was a major breakthrough in mobile phone UI. The Liquid Glass design of iOS 26 seems to be a step backward. A netizen on the X platform posted a screenshot of a jailbroken iPhone from 2013 after seeing iOS 26.

(Source: Screenshot from the X platform)

Chen Xi, the designer of ColorOS, said that iOS 26 lacks a good sense of separation and hierarchy, is not as advanced as Vision Pro, and has an overall childish style, more like a third - party theme on the Internet. On small - screen devices like mobile phones, interference should be reduced, and focus should be on information and efficiency. The flat design with unparalleled scalability is still the most successful design practice at present.

(Source: Screenshot from Weibo)

Samsung, a mobile phone giant, implicitly mocked Apple, saying that the new Liquid Glass texture in iOS 26 is similar to the redesign of OneUI 7 and emphasized its leading experience in this field compared to Apple. Microsoft also posted a video teasing the Liquid Glass in iOS 26, saying it was a "tribute" to Windows Vista.

(Source: Screenshot from the X platform)

(Source: Screenshot from the X platform)

Google released a video of a conversation between a Pixel phone and an iPhone. The topic focused on some new features launched on iOS, which the Pixel phone had already had. For example, the automatic message translation function was launched on the Pixel phone four years ago; the call waiting assistant function was introduced by the Pixel phone five years ago; and the call screening function was implemented by the Pixel phone seven years ago.

(Source: Screenshot from Google video)

From the teasing of Apple by giants like Samsung, Microsoft, and Google, as well as the comments of netizens, it is not difficult to see that the biggest problem with iOS 26 is the lack of innovation. Traces of its UI design and features can be found in the products of its competitors. However, this does not mean that Apple has lost its leading position in the industry. While the Liquid Glass is more beautiful, it also puts great pressure on the GPU and the battery. Supporters of Apple on Weibo highly praised iOS 26, believing that if Android phones adopted the Liquid Glass design, the GPU power consumption would skyrocket.

(Source: Apple)

With the current performance of Android flagships, running the Liquid Glass UI will not put too much pressure on the GPU, but an increase in power consumption is inevitable. Since the batteries of iPhones are usually smaller than those of Android flagships, Apple's courage to add Liquid Glass to its devices shows its excellent optimization of GPU power consumption. Chen Xi, the designer of ColorOS, also said that iOS 26 has its merits. People are tired of the flat design. In the future, the graphical interface design language in the industry will be mainly function - oriented but more inclined to emotional appeal.

In the past, Android phones lagged behind Apple in UI design and had to learn from it. Now, domestic and foreign manufacturers such as OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Honor, and Samsung have system experiences no less than Apple's and have established a foothold in the high - end market. They no longer need to look up to Apple. For Android phone manufacturers, it is more important to find their own path by combining user needs and industry trends.

The Right Path for Oneself Is the Best

Before 2020, Huawei was the only domestic brand in the high - end mobile phone market that could compete with Apple. Other Android manufacturers were still struggling to enter the high - end market. Apple's excellent performance in the high - end market put Android manufacturers in a blind following dilemma. "Do what Apple does" seemed to become the industry rule.

After 2020, with the launch of models such as the Xiaomi 10 series, OPPO Find X2 series, and vivo X60 series, Android manufacturers gradually established a foothold in the high - end market. At this time, mobile phone manufacturers realized that the similar system UI designs had led to user aesthetic fatigue, and they began to invest more resources in system upgrades.

Before the flourishing of domestic mobile phone systems, Xiaomi's MIUI stood out. At that time, many geek users said that the combination of OnePlus phone hardware and MIUI was the best phone. After the arrival of the AI era, Xiaomi integrated AI into the system at the bottom level and created the more powerful Pengpai OS.

(Source: Xiaomi)

While inheriting the feature - rich characteristics of MIUI, Pengpai OS optimized the interface style, changing from the large - icon style of MIUI to a concise mode, significantly reducing unnecessary operations and improving the efficiency of human - computer interaction. When other manufacturers were still following Apple by adding a camera button and the Dynamic Island to their products, Xiaomi adhered to its own path and did not follow the trend.

OPPO's ColorOS incorporates the concept of "Aquatic Design". The corners of the icons are more rounded, and the transitions are smooth and gentle. It also adds some skeuomorphic three - dimensional elements. The high - saturation color matching avoids the simultaneous appearance of blue and purple, red and green, making the picture elements cleaner and easier to distinguish, which takes care of users with red - green color blindness. Dynamic water elements are also added to the clock, phone manager, and charging animation to enhance the visual experience.

(Source: OPPO)

The icons of OriginOS combine the flat and skeuomorphic styles, taking into account both three - dimensional vision and scalability. Users can also switch between four window styles: delicate skeuomorphism, minimalist flat, standard closed, and open. The rich atomic components of this system provide users with a variety of personalized matching options and convenient operation experiences. For example, when taking photos, users can quickly call the main camera, telephoto lens, ultra - wide - angle lens, etc. through the atomic components without entering the camera app and then switching.

(Source: vivo)

After bidding farewell to the blind following of Apple, Android manufacturers seem to have gradually found their own paths, continuously enriching the functions of their products. Even the new features added to iOS every year show traces of Android phones. Foreign media TechRadar also counted seven similar features between iOS 26 and Pengpai OS, including the glass texture, AI visual search, the long - font style and customizable layout of the lock - screen clock, etc., indicating that Apple is also learning from Android phone manufacturers.

Solving the problem of the system UI being similar to iOS is one of the reasons why manufacturers such as Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo can gain a share in the high - end market and cultivate user loyalty.

In the Battle for the High - End Market, "Differentiation" Is the Winning Card

When there is no significant gap in hardware performance, system design becomes the decisive factor in the consumer experience. Achieving differentiated competition through system functions and UI design is the focus of competition in the mobile phone industry at present and in the next stage.

It is foreseeable that mobile phone manufacturers will continue to work hard on UI design and function richness. In particular, the in - depth integration of AI and system underlying functions will be the top priority. In this regard, Apple has fallen behind. Many of the promised AI functions have not been launched, and the AI version of Siri has been postponed to 2026.

(Source: Apple)

However, this does not mean that all Android manufacturers will not follow the Liquid Glass design of iOS 26. As Chen Xi said, mobile phone manufacturers need to consider ecological consistency. The design language will be adjusted according to the third - party application ecosystem and product positioning, and some designs will inevitably show similarities. Whether it was the flat design in the past or the current skeuomorphic Liquid Glass design, the problem is not whether manufacturers are willing to follow, but how the industry trend develops.

Lei Technology believes that although the Liquid Glass is controversial, change is a good thing. The reason why other companies refuse to follow Apple is that after a long - term exploration, they have found their own paths.