File photo - A customer holds an iPhone 6 on display at the Fifth Avenue Apple store on the first day of sales in Manhattan, New York Sept. 19, 2014. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
Good news for Android fans: the US Army Special Forces, all elite units like Delta Force and Army Rangers, currently use a system powered by Samsung handsets for battlefield applications.
Bad news for Android fans: those handsets have been crashing so much that Special Forces Command is switching to iPhones instead.
The story was first reported by DOD Buzz, which quotes a source as saying the iPhone is "faster; smoother. Android freezes up." Problems are particularly noticeable when trying to do heavy multitasking and livestreaming video, such as trying to view a map side-by-side with imagery from a drone.
As a result, special forces are switching to the iPhone 6S as the focal point of the iPhone Tactical Assault Kit. It basically comprises a smartphone connected to a networked radio. That can provide situational awareness, by showing the location of friendly and enemy forces on a map, but it can also be a useful tool for things like mapwork, viewing intelligence photos or communication with aerial assets.
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Apparently, the Tactical Assault Kit currently uses some kind of Samsung handset that's underpowered for the job at hand. Given the lead time normally associated with military tech, it's very believable that an old-gen Samsung phone has been used for a few years. So, a comparison between an old Galaxy S3 and a brand-new iPhone 6S isn't really fair, but it's also not great PR for Samsung either.
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