Approximately 1 in 25 Pixel users run GrapheneOS
I wanted to share an interesting statistic with you. Approximately 1 out of every 25 people with a Google Pixel phone is running GrapheneOS right now. While it's difficult to get an exact number, we can make educated guesses to get an approximate number.
How many GrapheneOS users are there? According to an estimate released by GrapheneOS today, the number of GrapheneOS devices is approaching 400,000. This estimate is based on the number of devices that downloaded recent GrapheneOS updates. Some users may have multiple devices, such as organizations, and some users may download and flash updates externally, but it's the best estimate we have.
How many Google Pixel users are there? Despite Google's extensive data collection, this one is surprisingly harder to estimate, since Google hasn't released an exact number. There's a number floating around that Google has 4-5% of the smartphone market, which is between 10 million and 13.2 million users in the United States. I can't find the source of where this information came from. That number is problematic, too, because Japan supposedly uses more Google Pixel phones than the United States. The Pixel 9 series was also a big jump in market share for Google. I couldn't find any numbers smaller than 10 million, and it made the math nice, so that is what I went with.
Putting the numbers together, it means that 4% of Google Pixel users are running GrapheneOS. That means in a room of 25 Google Pixel users, 1 of them will be a GrapheneOS user. If you include all custom Android operating systems, that number would certainly be much, much higher.
To put it into perspective, each pixel in this image represents ~5 Google Pixel users. Each white pixel represents that those ~5 people use GrapheneOS:
Even with generous estimates to Google's market share, GrapheneOS still makes up a large portion of their users.
Pixel 9 sales surge Google to third place behind Samsung and iPhone
The Google Pixel 9 series market share more than tripled from September to OctoberJason Cockerham (The Shortcut)
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potatopotato
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •huquad
in reply to potatopotato • • •kindred
in reply to potatopotato • • •LTT beat you to the joke.
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www.youtube.comCrypticCoffee
in reply to kindred • • •RogueBanana
in reply to kindred • • •potatopotato
in reply to kindred • • •RodgeGrabTheCat 🇨🇦🏴☠️
in reply to potatopotato • • •Manifish_Destiny
in reply to potatopotato • • •Crimes are free and you can just do them as much as you want.
The government doesn't want you to know this.
jali67
in reply to potatopotato • • •vatlark
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •c/dataisbeautiful :P
I had no idea the share was so large.
kindred
in reply to vatlark • • •fossilesque
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •AmbiguousProps
in reply to fossilesque • • •fossilesque
in reply to AmbiguousProps • • •☂️-
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •cool. that's actually way more than i expected.
the fact so many people distrust phones gives me some unironic faith for humanity, this also explains why they are trying so hard to kill custom roms.
Bloefz
in reply to ☂️- • • •Yeah 4% is big enough to get on Google's radar as a threat. Especially if it's trending upwards.
This is more than just a few tinfoil hats now.
And yes they're working on locking bootloaders and also making AOSP less useful
NickwithaC
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •huquad
in reply to NickwithaC • • •oasis
in reply to huquad • • •favoredponcho
in reply to NickwithaC • • •Courant d'air 🍃
in reply to favoredponcho • • •pirat
in reply to Courant d'air 🍃 • • •Bloefz
in reply to NickwithaC • • •quick_snail
in reply to Bloefz • • •Ulrich
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •confuser
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •confuser
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Undertaker
in reply to confuser • • •Sausager
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •HumanOnEarth
in reply to Sausager • • •Pixels are dirt cheap because Google is harvesting massive amounts of data from Pixel users, so they give them away.
GrapheneOS lets you have a cheap Pixel without Google knowing everything about you, and those near you.
Bloefz
in reply to HumanOnEarth • • •oasis
in reply to HumanOnEarth • • •HumanOnEarth
in reply to oasis • • •Maybe if you're buying them outright?
Where I am, you can get them (with a contract obviously) for 0 dollars up front and like 4 bucks a month for 2 years. And no other similar phone has the same deals. So it could be between Google and the cell provider.
oasis
in reply to HumanOnEarth • • •HumanOnEarth
in reply to oasis • • •oasis
in reply to HumanOnEarth • • •HumanOnEarth
in reply to oasis • • •I guess what I'm getting at is if you buy a phone outright, you have no incentive to keep using it....other than of course wasting your money. But there's no additional penalty keeping you from leaving the Pixel ecosystem, the financial damage is done.
On a contract, you have a financial penalty for the act of leaving early. So it disincentivizes leaving before 2 years or whatever the length of the contract.
So Google can say to carriers "Hey, we will subsidize our phones for you so you can give them away on contract. You get a captive customer, we get good odds of 2 years of valuable data.
I don't know if I'm right about any of this, but it explains a lot of questions I have about why Pixels are far and away the best value you can get on contract with any provider, where I am anyway.
oasis
in reply to HumanOnEarth • • •I mean it's technically possible.
But don't really believe that to be the case.
Either why, in my opinion we one shouldn't spread information or theories without any concrete evidence at all.
It's not like I feel sorry for Google or whatever I'm just tired of the constant misinformation and conspiracy theories.
The Pixel might be subsidized to get Android some more market share from Apple, or earn more money Google Play Store sales or whatever. Subsidizing your phone business just to collect more data might make some sense unless you are Google which already knows everything about everyone.
HumanOnEarth
in reply to oasis • • •oasis
in reply to HumanOnEarth • • •HiramFromTheChi
in reply to Sausager • • •It's barbones Android, without the Google. You can add the Google stuff if you want, but by default, it comes completely de-Googled.
It also comes with some extra features, like granular app-level permissions, sandboxed Google Play Services (which a lotta apps use), duress PIN, and more.
Widely regarded as the safest and most private "commercial" mobile operating system.
Disclaimer: I run SwapMyOS, a GrapheneOS/custom ROM installation service.
GrapheneOS installation service | SwapMyOS
Install GrapheneOS on your Pixel - GrapheneOS installation serviceThe 8232 Project
in reply to Sausager • • •GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS
GrapheneOSquick_snail
in reply to Sausager • • •JamesBoeing737MAX
in reply to quick_snail • • •quick_snail
in reply to JamesBoeing737MAX • • •You swallowed the kool-aid.
And I'm autistic, but not an asshole like you and Daniel.
quick_snail
in reply to Sausager • • •The lead Dev of graphene has a very bad history. Just Google Daniel Micay
I recommend avoiding it.
mlg
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •One one hand, a superior ROM choice
On the other hand, subpar crappy Google hardware
jnod4
in reply to mlg • • •cyberwitch
in reply to mlg • • •shadowtofu
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Google has shipped almost 40 million Pixel phones since 2016, 10 million last year
Ben Schoon (9to5Google)The 8232 Project
in reply to shadowtofu • • •grue
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •masterspace
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Have you ever been outside? In any social situation? Have you ever seen anyone with a Graphene OS phone in those situations other than you? No?
Then your estimates are wrong.
The 8232 Project
in reply to masterspace • • •masterspace
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Lol I talk to family, friends, colleagues, people I play ports with. Have literally never once seen a Graphene phone.
I literally cannot think of anyone anymore who even roots their phone, let alone installs a third party OS.
Y'all are honestly deluded if you think it's remotely close to OPs numbers.
frongt
in reply to masterspace • • •masterspace
in reply to frongt • • •Danitos
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •HereIAm
in reply to Danitos • • •Ferk
in reply to HereIAm • • •I'm not sure if that'd be what it'd look like.. distributions are hardly ever that heterogeneous.
I'd bet all the GrapheneOS users would get together in their own corner and nerd out about their customizations.
For the record: 1 in 25 is 4% ...the image gives (intentionally?) the illusion of the proportion being higher.
OR3X
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •icdmize [he/him]
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •fruitsnyoghurt
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •devedeset
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •It seems like the last breaths of the "do no evil" mantra. Your other options are like Fairphone or the yet to be released Hiroh phone with /e/os which is another flavor of degoogled android.
At the moment Pixel phones are the easiest for people in the US market to degoogle
fruitsnyoghurt
in reply to devedeset • • •Thanks for the clarification!
Somehow I am not surprised that the only phone able to use software not made by google is a phone made by google. Or, of course, you can buy iPhone and comply with NSA that way.
I am going to take a lucky guess and say this is by design and not by accident.
devedeset
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •M1k3y
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •GrapheneOS is popular with degoogling, but that's not its primary goal. If there is a tradeoff between independence from Google and security, they will always choose to increase security.
GrapheneOS is also probably the only custom rom that cooperates with Google to get access to vulnerabilities and patches before the embargo is lifted.
If you want to be completely independent from Google, GrapheneOS is not what you're looking for. Its it's a security focused os that also has some degoogling features, not the other way around.
fruitsnyoghurt
in reply to M1k3y • • •You are right.
I suppose I am a little bit frustrated with the fact that there are 4,9 billion smartphone users and yet 0,5% chance of having a non-US integrated phone.
If someone had said that will be the future in 2007, I think most everybody would have thought it preposterous.
kkj
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •fruitsnyoghurt
in reply to kkj • • •Kevin
in reply to M1k3y • • •pmk
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •eleitl
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •fruitsnyoghurt
in reply to eleitl • • •eleitl
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •fruitsnyoghurt
in reply to eleitl • • •eleitl
in reply to fruitsnyoghurt • • •smiletolerantly
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Graphene explicitly says the 400k are worldwide. You cannot then go ahead and use the US numbers for your comparison. From your own source, Google shipped 10 million Pixel 9 devices in 2023 alone. This does not account for other/older pixel models, or the sum total of sales before that point, or since.
Why not just share the actual number: worldwide, there's 400k users.
Ricaz
in reply to smiletolerantly • • •smiletolerantly
in reply to Ricaz • • •Ricaz
in reply to smiletolerantly • • •Moonrise2473
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Considering that if you use a custom ROM, you're a pro user, the 1% of the users, this means only one of this two cases:
Ferk
in reply to Moonrise2473 • • •But I'd bet it's a mix of 2 and 3.
fluxx
in reply to Ferk • • •stink
in reply to Moonrise2473 • • •Erik L. Midtsveen 🏴🌈
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Landslide7648
in reply to Erik L. Midtsveen 🏴🌈 • • •rustyricotta
in reply to Landslide7648 • • •Erik L. Midtsveen 🏴🌈
in reply to Landslide7648 • • •stupid_asshole69 [none/use name]
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Nighed
in reply to stupid_asshole69 [none/use name] • • •They are comparing USA pixel users with worldwide graphene users...
The world is more than the USA
Tywèle [she|her]
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Nighed
in reply to Tywèle [she|her] • • •CerebralHawks
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •Makes sense. Pixel is the successor to Nexus, which was always meant for tinkerers. The Pixel is (was?) sold unlocked, too. Unless you bought it from a carrier.
Pixel is also underpowered compared to iPhone and Galaxy, but priced similarly. So either you buy it because you just love Google that much... or you want to do something else with it.
Wondering if Graphene OS supports the AI hallucination camera mode on the Pixel 10 Pro where you zoom it at "100X" and it makes up details. Don't get me wrong here — as an iPhone/Galaxy user (I main the iPhone but I do use both, and have also used HTC and Motorola) I think the feature is awesome... unless you're trying to capture text. In which case it won't work. Well, it'll try to work. It won't work well. And I don't suppose you could show it the text later and update the 100X photo, but if you had that opportunity, you would just take a better picture up close.
mirshafie
in reply to CerebralHawks • • •I have a Pixel 9 Pro because when I bought it it had the best camera that you can could in Europe. I tried the best iPhone and Samsung phones at the time and Pixel was for sure better, especially in low-light conditions.
Only Huawei has better cameras (by a fair margin as well). I've never experienced that it feels slow or underpowered, but maybe that's the case on paper.
CerebralHawks
in reply to mirshafie • • •A lot of it is "on paper" as you say.
For example, iPhone uses NVMe SSD storage. The best Android phones use UFS, which is cheaper, and, "on paper," slower. But there are other bottlenecks to consider, and in real world performance, UFS is at least as good.
I can only speculate as to why Apple uses the part that costs more and is only better in theory, but my best guess is that the iPhone is intended to be used for far longer than they're marketed. Like Apple marketing would have you believe you need to upgrade every year or two, but Apple engineering would allow you to easily use an iPhone for five years, if you could resist the temptation of marketing. And it's honestly not really that much different with Android. I have a 2019 Galaxy S10 that still runs relatively well. Could use a new battery, it doesn't last long when it's powered on, but it still runs well in the time it has.
mirshafie
in reply to CerebralHawks • • •CerebralHawks
in reply to mirshafie • • •magikmw
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •HiramFromTheChi
in reply to The 8232 Project • • •One of my ideas for increasing GrapheneOS market share is to market GOS as the minimalist phone so many crave.
In recent times, I've stumbled across a handful of articles about how dumbphones are back, and how people crave more minimalist phones to curb smartphone addiction or otherwise.
GrapheneOS is a great minimalist phone that's still "smart," yet secure and private.
GOS is a way better option than dumbphones because:
1. Chances are you'll need some sort of smartphone functionality. For example: Digital "live" tickets that you can't screenshot and need to be opened on your phone directly (Ticketmaster, MLB, etc.)
2. Using a dumbphone reverts you to older technologies and protocols, like cell towers and SMS. These are inherently insecure and shouldn't be used anymore. So even though you might "feel" like you're better off, your communications (text, audio, video) take a huge leap backwards in terms of privacy and security.