Android vs iOS Market Share: Most Popular Mobile OS in 2026

Android and iOS run almost every smartphone in the world. Between them they account for 99.9% of mobile web traffic, and no other operating system reaches even 0.1%.

Which one is winning depends on what you measure. Android has more than twice as many users worldwide. iPhone owners spend far more money in apps. And in several of the world’s richest markets, the US included, the iPhone is the majority.

This guide has the latest numbers for 2026: worldwide and US market share, 22 countries and every continent, the full history since 2009, phone brands, tablets, the app stores and revenue.

Android vs iOS market share worldwide

Measure	iOS	Android
Worldwide	iOS 31.3%	Android 68.5%

Android holds 68.5% of the global mobile market in 2026 so far, and iOS holds 31.3%, according to StatCounter. StatCounter tracks the operating systems behind billions of page views a month, so its numbers reflect the phones people actually use, not only the ones sold this year.

iOS is having its best year in a long time. Its share is up from 26.9% in 2025, and 31.3% is the highest yearly figure StatCounter has recorded for iOS since 2009, when the iPhone was two years old.

In raw numbers, Apple says more than 2.5 billion of its devices are in active use, counting iPads, Macs and everything else it makes. Google’s latest figure for Android is “more than 3 billion active devices”, from May 2025. Counterpoint estimates that about one in four active smartphones in the world is an iPhone.

iPhone vs Android market share in the US

Measure	iOS	Android
United States	iOS 59.8%	Android 40.1%

The iPhone has 59.8% of the US mobile market in 2026 so far, against 40.1% for Android. That’s the iPhone’s strongest year in the US since 2009.

• iOS
• Android
• All others

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 59.8% 40.1% 0.1%

2009201120142017202020232026

Show the data

Year	iOS	Android	All others
2026	59.8%	40.1%	0.1%
2025	58.2%	41.5%	0.3%
2024	56.5%	43.2%	0.3%
2023	58.1%	41.5%	0.4%
2022	56.8%	42.9%	0.3%
2021	58.6%	41.1%	0.3%
2020	59.5%	40.3%	0.2%
2019	55.3%	44.5%	0.2%
2018	54.9%	44.8%	0.3%
2017	54.0%	45.3%	0.7%
2016	53.3%	45.3%	1.4%
2015	50.9%	46.5%	2.6%
2014	52.5%	42.7%	4.8%
2013	53.1%	39.5%	7.4%
2012	50.1%	41.1%	8.8%
2011	39.3%	36.2%	24.5%
2010	40.1%	19.6%	40.3%
2009	61.6%	6.6%	31.9%

The iPhone has led in the US in every year of StatCounter’s data. Android came closest in 2015, with 46.5% to the iPhone’s 50.9%, and the gap has widened since.

Sales swing with Apple’s launch calendar. New iPhones come out every September, and in the last quarter of 2025 the iPhone took 69% of US smartphone sales. By the second quarter of 2026 its share was back to 51%.

• iOS
• Android

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 51% 49%

Q3 2024Q4 2024Q1 2025Q2 2025Q3 2025Q4 2025Q1 2026Q2 2026

Show the data

Quarter	iOS	Android
Q2 2026	51%	49%
Q1 2026	58%	42%
Q4 2025	69%	31%
Q3 2025	55%	45%
Q2 2025	50%	50%
Q1 2025	55%	45%
Q4 2024	65%	35%
Q3 2024	52%	48%

iPhone owners rarely leave. In the first quarter of 2026, 87% of US iPhone buyers were replacing an older iPhone, and only 12% had switched from Android, according to CIRP. The next generation looks just as loyal: 87% of US teens own an iPhone, according to Piper Sandler.

Samsung is the only Android brand with a big US following, at 22.1% of mobile traffic. Motorola (3.9%) and Google’s Pixel phones (3.7%) are a long way behind.

Android vs iOS market share by country

• iOS
• Android

Market	iOS	Android
Canada	iOS 64.4%	Android 35.5%
Denmark	iOS 62.5%	Android 37.3%
Australia	iOS 62.2%	Android 37.6%
Japan	iOS 61.4%	Android 38.5%
United States	iOS 59.8%	Android 40.1%
Switzerland	iOS 56.7%	Android 43.1%
Taiwan	iOS 56.3%	Android 43.4%
Sweden	iOS 55.1%	Android 44.8%
United Kingdom	iOS 50.8%	Android 49.0%
Netherlands	iOS 35.9%	Android 63.9%
Germany	iOS 35.5%	Android 64.2%
Italy	iOS 35.1%	Android 64.8%
France	iOS 34.5%	Android 65.3%
South Korea	iOS 32.4%	Android 67.4%
Spain	iOS 30.3%	Android 69.6%
Mexico	iOS 27.9%	Android 72.1%
China	iOS 27.8%	Android 72.1%
South Africa	iOS 22.0%	Android 78.0%
Brazil	iOS 20.6%	Android 79.3%
Indonesia	iOS 17.7%	Android 82.3%
Nigeria	iOS 15.6%	Android 84.3%
India	iOS 6.3%	Android 93.7%

The split between Android and iOS changes a lot from one country to the next.

• The iPhone is the majority in Canada (64.4%), Denmark, Australia, Japan, the US, Switzerland, Taiwan and Sweden.
• The UK is close to an even split, with 50.8% on iOS and 49.0% on Android.
• Most of mainland Europe leans Android, from the Netherlands (63.9%) to Spain (69.6%).
• In Latin America, Africa and South Asia, Android is the default. In India its share is 93.7%.

China is a special case. Huawei’s newest phones run HarmonyOS NEXT, its own system with no Android code, and in the second quarter of 2026 HarmonyOS took 24% of Chinese smartphone sales, ahead of iOS at 18%, according to Counterpoint. Android (from Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Honor and others) had the other 58%.

Android vs iOS market share by continent

• iOS
• Android

Market	iOS	Android
Oceania	iOS 60.0%	Android 39.8%
North America	iOS 58.4%	Android 41.5%
Europe	iOS 39.0%	Android 60.8%
Asia	iOS 21.1%	Android 78.8%
South America	iOS 18.6%	Android 81.4%
Africa	iOS 16.6%	Android 83.3%

iOS leads in Oceania (60.0%) and North America (58.4%). Android leads on every other continent, from Europe (60.8%) to Africa (83.3%).

iOS has gained ground on every continent in 2026. Europe went from 35.4% iOS in 2025 to 39.0%, North America from 53.7% to 58.4%, and South America from 12.7% to 18.6%.

Mobile OS market share since 2009

• Android
• iOS
• All others

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 68.5% 31.3% 0.1%

2009201120142017202020232026

Show the data

Year	Android	iOS	All others
2026	68.5%	31.3%	0.1%
2025	72.8%	26.9%	0.3%
2024	71.7%	27.9%	0.5%
2023	70.4%	29.1%	0.6%
2022	71.6%	27.9%	0.6%
2021	72.0%	27.4%	0.6%
2020	73.2%	26.3%	0.5%
2019	75.7%	22.8%	1.5%
2018	76.9%	20.9%	2.2%
2017	75.5%	20.4%	4.1%
2016	71.6%	20.0%	8.4%
2015	66.3%	20.9%	12.8%
2014	55.4%	24.8%	19.8%
2013	41.0%	25.1%	33.9%
2012	28.8%	25.2%	46.0%
2011	20.1%	23.6%	56.3%
2010	9.4%	27.2%	63.4%
2009	2.7%	37.5%	59.8%

In 2009, the smartphone market looked nothing like it does now. Nokia’s Symbian ran 39.2% of the world’s mobile web traffic, the iPhone 37.6% and BlackBerry 9.0%. Android was at 2.7%.

Android passed iOS in 2012, crossed 70% in 2016 and peaked at 76.9% in 2018. By then Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and the rest had almost disappeared. Together they were down to 2.2%, and today they’re at 0.1%.

Since 2018, the trend has run the other way. iOS has taken back more than 10 points, from 20.9% to 31.3%.

The most popular phone brands

• iOS
• Android

Name	Share
Apple	31.3%
Samsung	20.2%
Xiaomi	9.7%
Vivo	5.8%
Oppo	5.8%
Realme	3.9%
Motorola	3.4%
Google (Pixel)	2.0%

Apple is the biggest phone brand in use, with 31.3% of the world’s mobile traffic. Samsung is second at 20.2%, and no other brand reaches 10%.

That’s the shape of the Android market: one big name and hundreds of smaller ones, many of them Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Realme.

Apple also sells more phones than anyone else. It shipped 247.8 million iPhones in 2025, a record, and was the world’s biggest phone maker for the third year running, just ahead of Samsung.

• iOS
• Android

Name	Phones shipped (millions)
Apple	247.8M
Samsung	241.2M
Xiaomi	165.3M
Vivo	103.9M
Oppo	102.0M

Apple’s share of the money is even bigger. In the second quarter of 2026 it shipped about a fifth of the world’s smartphones but took 49% of all smartphone revenue, according to Counterpoint. It also sells 65% of all premium phones, those priced at $600 and up.

2026 is shaping up to be a good year for the iPhone and a hard one for cheap Android phones. A shortage of memory chips is pushing phone prices up, and IDC expects shipments to fall a record 16.7% this year. Almost all of that drop is on Android, which IDC sees falling 24.3%. iPhone shipments slip just 1.3%, which would give iOS a record 23.6% of all phones shipped.

App Store vs Google Play

Android’s lead in users carries over to app downloads. iPhone owners make up for it in spending.

• iOS / App Store
• Android / Google Play

Market	iOS / App Store	Android / Google Play
Phones in use	iOS / App Store 31.3%	Android / Google Play 68.5%
App downloads	iOS / App Store 26.5%	Android / Google Play 73.5%
Consumer spending	iOS / App Store 70.5%	Android / Google Play 29.5%

Google Play accounted for 73.5% of the world’s app downloads in 2025. But people spent $117 billion on the App Store, against $49 billion on Google Play. The App Store took 70% of all consumer spending on apps, from about a quarter of the downloads.

Games show the gap most clearly. Google Play had 42 billion game downloads in 2025, more than four times as many as the App Store. Yet the App Store earned 75% more from games: $52.5 billion, against $30 billion on Google Play.

Sources: Sensor Tower, Business of Apps

2025 was also the first year people spent more money in apps than in games, with a big push from AI apps, according to Sensor Tower. Subscriptions brought in $79.5 billion, and 73% of that came from iOS.

Google Play is catching up, slowly. In the second quarter of 2026, spending on Google Play grew 10% year over year, against 3% on the App Store. The App Store’s lead in dollars is still huge, but it’s no longer growing faster.

How many apps are in each store

Source: 42matters

Google Play used to list about twice as many apps as the App Store. After years of removing abandoned and low-quality apps, it now lists slightly fewer, and the App Store gets almost twice as many new apps each month.

Android vs iOS tablet market share

• iOS
• Android

Market	iOS	Android
Worldwide	iOS 52.5%	Android 47.4%
United States	iOS 57.5%	Android 42.4%

The iPad holds 52.5% of the world’s tablet market in 2026 so far, and Android tablets hold 47.4%. In the US the iPad’s lead is wider, at 57.5% to 42.4%.

• iOS
• Android

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 52.5% 47.4%

20122014201620182020202220242026

Show the data

Year	iOS	Android
2026	52.5%	47.4%
2025	50.7%	49.1%
2024	54.9%	45.0%
2023	53.8%	46.0%
2022	52.6%	47.3%
2021	55.5%	44.4%
2020	59.3%	40.6%
2019	70.3%	29.4%
2018	67.6%	32.1%
2017	65.6%	33.9%
2016	66.0%	33.1%
2015	65.9%	30.8%
2014	71.7%	25.2%
2013	75.5%	21.3%
2012	83.1%	15.4%

In 2012, the iPad had 83.1% of the market. Android tablets closed the gap over the following decade, and in 2025 they came within two points, at 49.1% to the iPad’s 50.7%. This year the iPad has pulled ahead again.

Apple is also by far the biggest tablet brand, with 52.5% of tablet traffic. Samsung has 24.9% and Amazon’s Fire tablets 6.3%.

Software updates: iOS vs Android

• iOS
• Android

Name	Share
iOS 26 or 27	77.3%
Android 16 or 17	39.8%

iPhones get new versions of iOS quickly, because Apple releases each update to every supported iPhone at once. Android updates depend on each phone maker, and sometimes the carrier too, so they arrive later, and many older phones never get them.

iOS 26 and Android 16 both came out in 2025. By September 2026, 77.3% of iPhones on the web ran iOS 26 or the new iOS 27, against 39.8% of Android phones on Android 16 or 17. Apple’s own count, from devices that used the App Store in June 2026, puts iOS 26 on 86% of iPhones from the last four years.

For app developers, that means far fewer old versions to support on iOS.

More Android vs iOS stats

• 4.6 billion People who go online with their own smartphone, 56% of the world GSMA, end of 2025
• $1.4 trillion Sales and billings that ran through the App Store ecosystem in 2025 Apple
• 2.6x More revenue per install for subscription apps on the App Store than on Google Play, after 60 days RevenueCat, 2026
• 5% HarmonyOS's share of smartphones sold worldwide in Q2 2026, almost all of them in China Counterpoint Research
• 18.2 million Foldable phones shipped in 2025, none of them iPhones. Apple's first, the iPhone Duo, goes on sale October 23, 2026. Omdia
• $400 Average price of a smartphone sold in Q2 2026, up 17% in a year Counterpoint Research

Other mobile operating systems

Beyond Android and iOS, there’s almost nothing left. Every other mobile operating system put together accounts for about 0.1% of mobile web traffic.

Source: StatCounter, January to September 2026

It wasn’t always this way. In 2012, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Nokia’s Series 40 and Windows Phone all held real market share. Every one of them is gone.

The one new challenger is Huawei’s HarmonyOS. Its latest version, HarmonyOS NEXT, has no Android code at all, and HarmonyOS now takes about a quarter of smartphone sales in China. Outside China it barely registers.

Is it better to develop for Android or iPhone?

If you’re deciding where to launch a mobile app for your business, the answer is straightforward: develop for both.

Android and iOS together cover 99.9% of the smartphone market. Choosing one platform means leaving a massive portion of potential users on the table.

If you go iOS-only, you’re missing more than two-thirds of the world’s smartphone users. If you go Android-only, you’re missing the platform that generates 70% of app revenue, and most of your customers in the US, Canada, Australia and Japan.

The traditional barrier has been cost. Building native apps for both platforms means two separate codebases, two development teams, and double the maintenance. That’s a significant investment, easily $100K+ for a custom build, plus ongoing costs.

That’s where a different approach comes in.

Instead of building two separate apps from scratch, you can extend your existing website into native iOS and Android apps.

Your website already has your full product catalog, checkout flow, account management, and every integration you’ve set up. A native app built on top of your website inherits all of that, without rebuilding anything.

With MobiLoud, your website becomes a fully native mobile app on both platforms. You keep your entire existing tech stack. Every update you make to your website is instantly reflected in the app. And you unlock native features like push notifications, a home screen icon, and an App Store and Google Play presence, all without separate development projects.

We’ve built 2,000+ apps for brands across every major ecommerce platform, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and custom-built sites.

Curious whether a mobile app makes sense for your brand? Book a free strategy call to see your website as a native app. No commitment.