I don't think there is any difference between them, and they sound very similar, depending on what is printed on the ice cream store.hhhh, you can choose the one that is easier to write😄

I don't think there is a difference between them. It's just a translation from the pronunciation of English word "ice cream". Ice means 冰, cream is the "激凌" or "淇淋"

中国早期都是用的冰激凌一词，所以说冰激凌更常用，那时候的冰激凌比较硬，含水多（比如雪糕），需要用牙咬，而现在的冰淇淋更软，更蓬松， 也更美味更流行，所以现在中国人有的时候说的是冰激凌，但实际吃的是冰淇淋。所以你可以自己决定用那个，没有太大关系的。

I just asked my husband, who’s from Shanghai what he uses and he says 冰激凌.

Some people say that there's no difference, that it just depends on the region which term is preferred, or that 冰淇淋 is in general the more widely used term but according to the following article 冰淇淋 is more like soft ice cream while 冰激凌 is a harder type of ice cream: <a href="http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_ab9e9eef0102wp9z.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_ab9e9eef0102wp9z.html</a>;. Maybe native speakers can shed more light on this.