A mobile operating system is an operating system for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, smart glasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on them are generally not considered mobile ones, as they were originally designed for desktop computers that historically did not have or need specific mobile features. This line distinguishing mobile and other forms has become blurred in recent years, due to the fact that newer devices have become smaller and more mobile unlike hardware of the past. Key notabilities blurring this line are the introduction of tablet computers and light-weight laptops and the hybridization of the two in 2-in-1 PCs.
Mobile operating systems combine features of a desktop computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use, and usually including a wireless inbuilt modem and SIM tray for telephony and data connection. In Q1 2018, over 123 million smartphones were sold (highest ever recorded) with 60.2 percent running Android and 20.9 percent running iOS.[1] Nonetheless, although not as many as 2018 (1.56 billion), 2021 still had soaring sales, 1.43 billion to be exact[2] with 53.32 percent being Android.[3] Android alone is more popular than the popular desktop operating system Microsoft Windows, and in general smartphone use (even without tablets) outnumbers desktop use.[4]
Mobile devices, with mobile communications abilities (e.g., smartphones), contain two mobile operating systems – the main user-facing software platform is supplemented by a second low-level proprietary real-time operating system which operates the radio and other hardware. Research has shown that these low-level systems may contain a range of security vulnerabilities permitting malicious base stations to gain high levels of control over the mobile device.[5]
Mobile operating systems have majority use since 2017 (measured by web use); with even only the smartphones running them (excluding tablets) having majority use, more used than any other kind of device.[2] Thus traditional desktop OS is now a minority-used kind of OS; see usage share of operating systems. However, variations occur in popularity by regions, while desktop-minority also applies on some days in countries such as United States and United Kingdom. Android and iOS currently dominate 80% of the market share of mobile operating systems worldwide.
Timeline
See also: History of tablet computers
Mobile operating system milestones mirror the development of mobile phones, PDAs, and smartphones:
Pre-1993
1973–1993 – Mobile phones use embedded systems to control operation.
1993–1999
1993
April – Pen Point OS by GO Corp. becomes available on the AT&T EO Personal Communicator.[6][7]
August – Apple launches Newton OS running on their Newton series of portable computers.
1994
March – Magic Cap OS by General Magic is first introduced on the Sony Magic Link PDA.[3]
August – The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, has a touchscreen, email, and PDA features.[8]
1996
March – The Palm Pilot 1000 personal digital assistant is introduced with the Palm OS mobile operating system.
August – Nokia releases the Nokia 9000 Communicator running an integrated system based on the PEN/GEOS 3.0 OS from Geo works.[9][10]
1997 – EPOC32 first appears on the Psion Series 5 PDA. Release 6 of EPOC32 will later be renamed to Symbian OS.
1998 – Symbian Ltd. is formed as a joint venture by Psion, Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia,[11] Psion's EPOC32 OS becomes Symbian's EPOC operating system,[12] and is later renamed to Symbian OS. Symbian's OS was used by those companies and several other major mobile phone brands, but especially Nokia.
1999
June – Qualcomm's becomes the first smartphone with Palm OS.[13][14][15][16]
October – Nokia S40 Platform is officially introduced along with the Nokia 7110, the first phone with T9 predictive text input[17] and a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browser for accessing specially formatted Internet data.[18]
2000s
2000 – The Ericsson R380 is released with EPOC32 Release 5, marking the first use on a phone of what's to become known as Symbian OS (as of Release 6).[19][20]
2001
June – Nokia's Symbian Series 80 platform is first released on the Nokia 9210 Communicator[21] This is the first phone running an OS branded as Symbian, and the first phone using that OS that allows user installation of additional software.
September – Qualcomm's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) platform on their REX real-time operating system (RTOS) is first released on the Kyocera QCP-3035.[22]
2002
March
BlackBerry releases its first smartphone, running Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME).[23]
UIQ is first released, at v2.0,[24] on Symbian OS, and becomes available later in the year on the Sony Ericsson P800, the successor to the Ericsson R380.[25]
June
Microsoft's first Windows CE (Pocket PC) smartphones are introduced.[26][27][28]
Nokia's Symbian Series 60 (S60) platform is released with the Nokia 7650, Nokia's first phone with a camera and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).[29] S60 would form the basis of the OS on most of Nokia's smartphones until 2011, when they adopted Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. S60 was also used on some phones from Samsung and others, and later by Sony Ericsson after the consolidation of some Symbian UI variants in 2008.
October – The Danger Hip top (T-Mobile Sidekick in U.S.) is first released by Danger, Inc., running Danger OS.
2003 – Motorola introduces first Linux-based cellphone Motorola A760 base on Linux Vista distribution.
2005
May – Microsoft announces Windows Mobile 5.0.[30]
November – Nokia introduces OS on the first, small Internet tablet, the N770,[31] with a 4.13" screen.
2007
January – Apple's iPhone with iOS (named "iPhone OS" for its first three releases) is introduced as a "widescreen iPod", "mobile phone", and "Internet communicator".[32]
February – Microsoft announces Windows Mobile 6.0.[33]
May – Palm announces the Palm , a "Mobile Companion" device similar to a subnotebook computer, running a modified Linux kernel and relying on a companion Palm Treo smartphone to send and retrieve mail, as well as provide data connectivity when away from .[34] Palm canceled development on September 4, 2007, after facing public criticism.[35]
June – World's very first iPhone is released in the United States.
November – Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is established, led by Google with 34 members (HTC, Sony, Dell, Intel, Motorola, Samsung, LG, etc.)[36][37]
2008
Xperia UI version 3 – based on Android "Gingerbread" and "Ice Cream Sandwich" 2.3.x and 4.0.x, redesigned UI
Xperia UI version 4 – based on Android "Jelly Bean" 4.2.x – 4.3.x, redesigned UI
Xperia UI version 5 – based on Android "KitKat" 4.4.x, redesigned UI
Xperia UI version 6 – based on Android "Lollipop" 5.0.x – 5.1.x, redesigned UI
Xperia UI version 7 – based on Android "Marshmallow" 6.0.x, redesigned UI
Xperia UI version 8 – based on Android "Nougat" 7.x, redesigned UI
Xperia UI version 9 – based on Android "Oreo" 8.x, redesigned UI
ZUI 1.x – Initial Release
ZUI 2.x
ZUI 3.x
ZUI 4.x
ZUI 4.x
ZUI 10.x (Based on Android 9 "Pie")
ZUI 11.x (Based on Android 9 "Pie" and Android 10)
ZUI 12.x (Based on Android 11)
ZUI 13.x (Based on Android 11)
Wear OS
Main article: Wear OS
Wear OS (also known simply as Wear and formerly Android Wear) is a version of Google's Android operating system designed for smartwatches and other wearables. By pairing with mobile phones running Android version 6.0 or newer, or iOS version 10.0 or newer with limited support from Google's pairing application, Wear OS integrates Google Assistant technology and mobile notifications into a smartwatch form factor.
In May 2021 at Google I/O, Google announced a major update to the platform, internally known as Wear OS 3.0. It incorporates a new visual design inspired by Android 12, and Fitbit exercise tracking features. Google also announced a partnership with Samsung Electronics, who is collaborating with Google to unify its -based smartwatch platform with Wear OS, and has committed to using Wear OS on its future smartwatch products. The underlying codebase was also upgraded to Android 11. Wear OS 3.0 will be available to Wear OS devices running Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 system on chip, and will be an opt-in upgrade requiring a factory reset to install.
Current Wear OS version list:
Android Wear 4.4w (Based on Android 4.4 "KitKat") – (Initially release)
Android Wear 1.0 – 1.3 (Based on Android 5.0 "Lollipop) – (Minor update)
Android Wear 1.4 (Based on Android 6.0 "Marshmallow) – (Minor update)
Android Wear 2.0 – 2.6 (7.1.1W2) (Based on Android 7.1 "Nougat") – (Minor update)
Wear OS 1.0 (Based on Android 8.0 "Oreo") – (Renamed and Minor update)
Wear OS 2.0 (Based on Android 8.0 "Oreo") – (Minor update)
Wear OS 2.2 (Based on Android 9.0 "Pie") – (Minor update)
Wear OS 3.0 (Based on Android 11) – (Major UI and system update)
Windows 10 Mobile – Version 1511 (November Update "Threshold") – major UI update
Windows 10 Mobile – Version 1607 (Anniversary Update "Redstone 1")
Windows 10 Mobile – Version 1703 (Creators Update "Redstone 2")
Windows 10 Mobile – Version 1709 (Fall Creators Update)
Huawei Band Operating system is an operating system specifically designed and developed by Huawei for their fitness tracker, including smartband series from Honor. (Not to be confused with another RTOS (LiteOS) which was also developed by Huawei.)
Lenovo RTOS
Proprietary OS develop by Lenovo for their fitness tracker and smartwatch.
realme Wearable Operating System
A proprietary operating system design to run on realme smartband and smartwatch.
TCL Wearable Real Time Operating System
A proprietary RTOS powering TCL and Alcatel brand smart band and smartwatch
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