Federica Laricchia
Research expert covering the global consumer technology industry
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As the Android OS was introduced to the market, it gained the support of several smartphone manufacturers. Sony, Samsung, and HTC all eventually built phones designed specifically for the Android system. This has aided Android significantly in gaining popularity in the market, making it the most used smartphone operating system since 2010. Particularly, in 2021, it held over 70 percent of the smartphone operating system market. This success is also due to Android devices’ prices, which are usually cheaper than those of its biggest competitor, Apple.
Following success in the smartphone market, Android expanded its operating system to tablets. Android tablets were introduced to compete with Apple’s iPad, a pioneer product in this market. Due to the lack of quality applications for Android tablets, Android did not grow as strongly at first as in the smartphone market but managed to establish itself as the leading tablet operating system in late 2012. As of 2022, Android has roughly a 50 percent share of the tablet market.
Google continues to develop Android
Google regularly releases new versions of Android to take full advantage of the potential offered by powerful flagship devices and to continue improving the overall user experience. As of January 2022, Android 11 was the most widely used version of Android in operation, followed by Android 12. Older devices tend to run previous Android versions as they cannot run the latest versions stably. Updated versions are also available for tablets running on Android. In 2021, with over 22 percent of the market, Android 11 was the most used version on tablets, KitKat was the most used version on tablets and it was followed by 9 Pie, which held more than 17 percent.
Android Apps and the Google Play Store
The increasing popularity of Android devices is supported by the app store, Google Play Store -the largest app store in the world with 2.65 million apps available for download as of June 2022. In the same period, the gaming app Dessert DIY was the most downloaded Android app, while Coin Master was the Android app that generated the most revenue, bringing in over 26 million U.S. dollars in June 2022.
