Android and iOS are two of the world’s most popular operating systems for smartphones and tablets. Where iOS is a more exclusive operating system, which is featured only in Apple’s devices, Android is a more widely used operating system. From LG, HTC, Xiaomi to Micromax, Intex, Lenovo, most smartphones run on Android operating systems.
OpenSignal, a company that creates database of cell towers and signal strengths, prepared an inforgraphic (as shown below) in August 2014, illustrating the variety of Android-based smartphones in the market. Each tile here represents a different phone model.
(Source: OpenSignal)
According to OpenSignal, a total of 18,769 distinct Android devices accessed their app in a year. In August 2013, the figure stood at 11,868.
Now, it can be clearly understood from the infographic that the smartphone market is growing it a large scale, which is leading to increasing options for Android users. Android is much more accessible than Apple’s iOS.
However, this also means that the Android is really fragmented, which causes troubles for developers when building the OS, since it would just be impossible for them to test the operating system on every device out there. On the other hand, since Apple has limited devices, the new operating system can be tested on all existing devices, offering better compatibility.
(Source: OpenSignal)
Although, the fragmented operating system allows a great amount of freedom to developers and device manufacturers, as they are able to perfectly tune devices according to the demands of their customers. The fragmentation also poses huge security threats, which are comparatively much lower when it comes to an operating system like iOS. Owing to its exclusivity, rolling out updates and fixing bugs and issues is much easier on a device running on iOS than the one running on Android.
