I just got a new iphone 6s after years on a trusty Android phone, and am facing the exact same problem regarding Google contacts sync. My hundreds and thousands of contacts on Google are not syncing to the new iphone. Calendar, photos and messages have all synced fine, but contacts, which is the most important item, has not synced at all. I have tried every solution to this problem that has been suggested in this thread. In addition, I have spent 3-4 hours on the phone with Apple tech support who have also basically given the same solutions, but to no avail.
I must say I am terribly disappointed in this much vaunted Apple. I was really looking forward to my first Apple product, a brand new cutting edge iphone, but it is unable to perform the most basic feature, i.e. seamless syncing of contacts with Google. Even the cheapest available Android phone in the market is able to perform this basic feature which my new iPhone can't. As a long-standing Android user, I am most disappointed in this failure by Apple.
Google's contact feature is world class and I want to continue using it on my iPhone. I don't want to make Outlook or iCloud as my default contact storage. Sadly, this poor functionality of iPhone is not letting me do this.
I feel like I just should gift this phone to my old mother, because without dynamic syncing of contacts this iPhone is only good for playing video games and taking photos.
Regards,
a very disappointed first time Apple user