Android now powers over 3 billion active devices globally, while iPhone is at around 1 billion

Android is ruling the world of smartphones and may continue to do so.

The debate over whether Android is better than iOS or otherwise is far from over, but there is no denying the fact that Google’s operating system for mobiles is more dominant. At Google IO, Sameer Samat, vice president of product management at Google, announced that Android now powers more than 3 billion active devices worldwide. This is three times the number of active iPhone devices in the world, and that is insane. Google achieved the new milestone by adding over 500 million active Android devices since the developers’ conference in 2019. And if we talk about the estimate since 2017, the Mountain View-based company added 1 billion devices. These numbers are based on the data from Google Play Store, which means those Android devices that run Android but come with other app marketplaces, such as Amazon Fire devices, are not included in this estimate. And the biggest omission here is the flurry of Android devices available in China as they do not run Google apps. Even though Google’s estimate of over 3 billion sounds astounding, the actual number of Android devices is far bigger. This is a major achievement for Google, which is often at loggerheads with Apple over the question of privacy. Earlier this year, in January, Apple announced there are now 1 billion active iPhone devices in the world, and rightly so. Apple’s iPhones are premium phones, which are not exactly popular with the masses, especially in countries like India where Android enjoys dominance. An Android phone in India costs as meagrely as Rs 5,000 -- sometimes even less, with a horde of discounts and bank offers available through e-commerce platforms. Apple has tried to entice customers with offerings such as the iPhone SE 2020 and the iPhone XR, yet the minimum price is to the tune of Rs 25,000.