Samsung, which uses the Android operating system, is the most popular smartphone vendor with 20.7 percent of the total smartphone market in terms of shipments.
Since Android is used in devices by far more vendors than iOS or Windows Phone, the prices of Android devices vary hugely. For example, premium devices such as the HTC 10 may cost in the hundreds of pounds while cheaper devices may be in the tens of pounds.
The company was first founded in Palo Alto in October 2003 by Andy Rubin of Danger, Rich Miner of WildFire and Nick Sears of T-Mobile.
Google acquired Android in 2005.
The operating system has encountered legal issues, with Oracle suing Google for copyright infringement over elements of Java apparently being used in Android.
