---
title: "Which came first, Android or the iPhone?"
description: "Android vs the iPhone: the iPhone came first, by one year — 2007 against 2008. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/android-vs-iphone/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Android or the iPhone?

**Which came first, Android or the iPhone?: the iPhone**

2007 — one year before Android

the iPhone came first, by one year. The first iPhone went on sale after a January announcement.

## Side by side

|  | Android | the iPhone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 2008 | 2007 |
| Date | 2008-09-23 | 2007-06-29 |
| Category | technology | technology |
| What happened | The HTC Dream, the first Android phone, was announced. | The first iPhone went on sale after a January announcement. |

## Android

Android as a company was founded in October 2003 — four years before the iPhone — originally to build an operating system for digital cameras. Google bought it in 2005 and the first Android phone shipped in October 2008, fifteen months after the iPhone went on sale. So Android is older than the iPhone as a project and younger as a product, which is why the question needs the distinction stated.

## the iPhone

Announced on 9 January 2007 and on sale from 29 June, the first iPhone had no app store, no copy and paste, no 3G and no video recording. The App Store arrived over a year later in July 2008. Android Inc. had been founded in 2003, four years before the iPhone, but the first Android phone shipped fifteen months after it.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Android or the iPhone?

the iPhone, by one year — 2007 against 2008.

### When did Android start?

2008. The HTC Dream, the first Android phone, was announced.

### When did the iPhone start?

2007. The first iPhone went on sale after a January announcement.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]