You are loosely comparing two different types of data (an integer and a string). PHP has a very detailed chart of how comparisons work in their system when using the loose comparison binary operator (==):
http://php.net/manual/en/types.comparisons.php
If you want to ensure that the types are also in sync, that is that they are both integers or both strings, use the strong type comparison operator (===).
Note that, when using this operator, this will also return false:
1234 === '1234'
If you are unsure of your types when comparing, you can couple the strong-type comparison with PHP typecasting:
$a = 1234;
$b = '1234';
if ($a === $b) { } // Will not fire, as it is false
if ((int)$a === (int)$b) { } // Will fire, as it is true
