Android
Mobile operating system
Google's open-source mobile operating system, licensed free to phone makers and paired with Google Play and Google apps.
Mobile operating systemSince 2008
How it started
A quiet startup buy.
2005bought by Alphabet
Google quietly bought Android Inc., a young mobile software startup led by Andy Rubin, in 2005 as a way into phones.
How big it is
How big is Android?
3B+Active Android devicesMay 2025
Its place in Alphabet
Google's gateway to billions of phones.
Android puts Search, Chrome, Google Play and Gemini on most of the world's smartphones, feeding Google's ads and app-store revenue.
Who it competes with
iiOSHHarmonyOS
What Alphabet does not disclose
- Price Google paid for Android Inc. (never disclosed by Google)
- Android revenue (Google Play is reported inside Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices)
- Android operating income (part of the Google Services segment)
The group behind itAlphabet
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Sources
Every number on this page comes from Alphabet's own reports.
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