Android remains the world's most popular mobile operating system, but a record number of Android users are apparently switching to iPhones.
A record number of Android users are apparently switching to iPhones, and Apple CEO Tim Cook provided some insight into why. Despite the mass migration to iOS, Android remains the world's most popular mobile operating system, and by a sizeable margin. According to StatCounter, Google's mobile OS has a 71.85 percent market share globally as of July 2022, while iOS is a distant second with a 27.5 percent market share. KaiOS and and a bunch of obsolete systems, such as Windows Phone, Series 40, and others, make up the rest.
While the availability of decent mid-range phones at affordable prices is one of the main reasons why Android is the most popular mobile OS globally, the myriad customization options and the relative amount of freedom compared to iOS have also contributed greatly to the popularity of Android. The situation, however, is dramatically different in the U.S where iPhone rules the roost. According to StatCounter, iOS accounts for 55.26 percent of the mobile OS market in the country, while Android has only a 44.43 percent market share as of July 2022.
Related: The First iOS 16 Features You Should Try After Upgrading An iPhone
At Apple's latest earnings call last week, CEO Tim Cook suggested that Android users are switching over to iPhones in droves. Apple CFO Luca Maestri also said that the iPhone's active installed base "reached a new all-time high across all geographies" during the last quarter, thanks to people switching over from Android. While Android remains the leading mobile operating system globally, its market share has been falling in recent times, with iOS being the obvious beneficiary.
Some of the markets where Apple did especially well during the last quarter were Indonesia, Vietnam, and India, where iPhone penetration has traditionally been fairly low. According to Cook, two of the main reasons why iPhones are gaining popularity worldwide are the high levels of customer satisfaction in Apple products and the steady adoption of 5G technology globally. Looking at the near future, Cook sounded hopeful that the increasing 5G penetration in the coming years will provide an even bigger opportunity for the company to increase sales and improve market share.
Various surveys over the years have also shown that iPhone users are more loyal than Android users, which means the reverse migration from iOS to Android is negligible for the most part. Maestri pointed to a 451 Research US consumer survey that suggested consumer satisfaction with iPhones is at a whopping 98 percent. Samsung and other Android vendors can only dream of such customer satisfaction numbers, so it is no wonder that many users switch over from Android to iPhones, despite the higher sticker price and the notorious walled garden of the iOS eco-system.
Next: Android 13: The Best New Features Coming To Your Phone
Source: Apple, The Motley Fool, StatCounter 1, 2
Kishalaya has almost a decade's worth of experience in tech journalism, having written thousands of news, guides, features, and reviews for multiple American, Canadian, and Indian blogs. As a senior writer at ScreenRant, he covers everything from consumer electronics to artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies to virtual reality, and electric vehicles to space. Entertainment to him means 90s sitcoms, such as Fresh Prince, Home Improvement, Seinfeld, Friends, That 70s Show, Everybody Loves Raymond, etc. He loves dogs, sports, and pizza (in that order) and can listen to The Doors, Def Leppard, Metallica, and Guns N' Roses all day long. He also loves watching cheesy 90s sci-fi/disaster movies like Independence Day, Armageddon, Twister, Volcano, Dante's Peak, etc.