Timeline Of Android Phones Released To Date [Infographic]
This week we are back with another infographic. It is a simple timeline showing all Android phones released to date (as of 22/09/2010) by every manufacturer. The versions listed for Android devices are the ones with which they were launched. We are still polishing out our infographics skills so let us know if we missed anything. Enjoy!
As you can see, Android made its debut in October 2008 with the HTC-manufactured T-Mobile G1 (also known as HTC Dream), which sold over a million units in the U.S. within six months of its launch, marking Android’s position as a significant competitor in the smartphone industry. From the initial launch, it has been an uphill ride, at an exponential pace. HTC Magic, Samsung Galaxy – the first in the series of what is now perhaps the most successful line of smartphones of all time i.e. Galaxy Series – and HTC Hero soon followed with Android 1.5 Cupcake, marking the start of Android’s dessert based naming convention for all future releases of the OS.
Up next were HTC Tattoo, Motorola Dext, HTC Hero and Huawei Pulse sporting Android 1.6 Donut, around the release of Android 2.0 Eclair, which prompted the release of Eclair based devices such as LG Eve, HTC Droid Eris, Acer Liquid, Samsung Moment, Samsung Galaxy Lite and the phenomenal Motorola Droid – a phone and brand that became the icon of Android phones in the US and helped popularize the operating system, making it a household name to the extent that despite being Verizon’s trademark for their Android phone series, ‘Droid’ became synonymous with ‘Android phone’ in general to most people. Shortly afterwards, Dell Mini and Motorola Motus became the last Android phones to be released in 2009.
In the very beginning of 2010, the rate of Android device releases saw a surge and it started with Google partnering with HTC to release the first device under Google’s own Nexus brand – the Nexus One. It was a device in the class of it’s own, both in terms of hardware and design, as well as the operating system. By this time, all the manufacturers were selling Android phones with their own versions of heavily modified user interfaces. With Nexus One, Google offered users a pure Android experience, as developed by Google itself. Google also promised early updates rolled out to the device as soon as newer versions of Android would be released.
Next came Motorola Devour, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, Motorola Motoroi, Acer Be Touch, Motorola Backflip and Cliq-XT, HTC Legend, HTC Droid Incredible and Hwawei Pulse Mini, before the release of Android 2.2 Froyo in May. By then, Android’s first quarter sales had surpassed Apple’s iPhone sales in the US. May also saw the release of LG Optimus Q, Samsung Galaxy A, LG GT 540, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini, Hwawei I845 and LG Ally.
By this time, one of the most famous Android phones so far i.e. HTC Desire had been launched in Europe and Australia, and was to come to the U.S. shortly (by August). The phone would go on to claim the title of Phone of the Year 2010 later on. June also saw a couple of other major successes such as the Samsung Galaxy S – probably the first phone to give Apple a run for its money (a trend that continues till date) – and HTC Evo 4G, along with some other major releases such as HTC Wildfire and Aria, Motorola Flipout, Titanium and Opus One, Samsung Galaxy 5, the 5″ Dell Streak, and Asus Garmin Phone – the first phone to be sold as a professional GPS unit and phone hybrid as a joint effort of Asus and Garmin.
August saw variants of Samsung Galaxy S such as Captivate and Epic 4G pop up on several US carriers, along with Samsung Beam, Motorola Charm, Motorola Droid 2 (the successor of the original Droid) and Acer Liquid Stream. Google announced some interesting statistics, revealing that 200,000 Android devices were being activated every single day.
Finally in October, HTC added a couple of other legendary phones to its Desire line – the 4.3″ Desire HD (successor to the astronomically popular HTC HD2 – a phone that was years ahead of its time upon its release) and the Desire Z full QWERTY side-slider.Other October releases include HTC Optimus One and Optimus Chic, Motorola Sage, Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 and Dell Thunder.
With the anticipation building for Android’s next major Android release i.e. Gingerbread (rumoured to be Android 3.0 or 2.3) and judging from Android’s short yet explosively successful history, it wouldn’t be unfair to expect a plethora of devices being released soon. It’s like an unstoppable force that has no immovable object in it’s path, and the winners in the end are the consumers. At the pace at which Android is growing and new Android devices are being introduced, continuing to update this infographic would very likely make it rival the Great Wall of China in length very soon.
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Update?
I offer myself to help
You missed the original HTC Desire (not Eris) which launched at the end of march in UK and beginning of April in the rest of Europe.
We will be making a more improved and detailed inforgraphic on Android Timeline once Gingerbread is released. We did miss a few phones but this should be fixed next month. Thanks for stopping by!
Do you have the updated infographics?
eh!. a mistake Thanks Murphy!, fascinate is galaxy S released exclusively for Verizon Wireless.
Wait…no Samsung Fascinate from VZW?