Privacy is an interesting argument. Apple theoretically respects privacy more, but you have to take their word. You don't have control of your device.
Android phones on the other hand at least have the option of installing a variant that is more privacy focused, such as Copperhead[1].
I can install F-Droid and follow some of the other recommendations on the Free Software Foundation website to "Free my Android"[2]. All without having to jailbreak my device.
Now, granted this is an expert action, but it allows people that care about it to accomplish it. Do you lose a lot of functionality? Sure, but all Security and Privacy is about trade-offs.
For every "expert" who takes advantage of those options on Android, there are thousands upon thousands of Apple users who get better privacy by default.
So all in all, you have three options: No privacy used by billions (Android), a little privacy used by millions (iOS) or some privacy used by thousands (Android derivatives).
If you are willing to sacrifice privacy, why not go android? If you do not want to, you must buy an android phone and tweak it. Using Apple is but a compromise.
We talk about privacy as an absolute but privacy from whom? I'm mostly concerned about the government getting and abusing my data and if I use iCloud backups all my data is right there for them to take. With Google's activity controls I feel like I have more control over what they're storing.
That said I do wish there was a third option besides Apple and Google.
