5 Iconic Android Phones That Made Smartphone History

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at Macworld in 2007, Android was just a small phone software project Google had purchased, as far as the market was concerned. While Apple’s device was the catalyst that started the touchscreen smartphone movement, a diverse array of phone manufacturers were soon hot on the iPhone’s heels, and most of them have been powered by Google’s Android. While many Android phones have been launched over the years, a few key models played an important role in helping the Android ecosystem grow to where it is today.

The very first Android phone released to the public was the HTC Dream, though it included a slide-up keyboard and buttons to help control the device. The iPhone, meanwhile, stood out with a large touchscreen and just a few buttons for power, volume, and the home screen. It wasn’t until the Motorola Droid was released in 2009 that Android really hit the mainstream. 

We looked through the archives to identify which Android phones really left a mark on the industry, and what role they each played. Below is our list, including what helped them stand out and how they pushed Android into the powerhouse software it is today.

The T-Mobile G1, also known as the HTC Dream, was the first commercially released Android phone when it launched in 2008, more than a year after the iPhone landed on store shelves. HTC’s device shipped with the Android Market, which is now known as Google Play. The G1 had an interesting start to life, as the phone’s initial model, which was codenamed “Sooner,” looked similar to a BlackBerry when it was prototyped in 2007. The design was abandoned after the iPhone started making waves, and the new model was marketed as the T-Mobile G1.

The phone featured a full physical QWERTY keyboard that appeared when the screen was slid upward. The screen itself was a 3.2-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen at 320×480 resolution. The device also featured five buttons at the bottom of the screen, a clickable trackball, and a 3.15MP camera with autofocus.

It wasn’t the best-looking model on the market at the time, but the main differentiator was the new Android software that featured three customizable home screens, widgets, and the ability to copy-paste. The addition of a notifications drawer was also seen as a key improvement over the iPhone’s experience. Apple adopted a “notification center” in 2011.

The Motorola Droid is one of our top picks for phones that made Android history, because this was a device that truly popularized the Android OS. The Droid was Verizon’s answer to the AT&T exclusive iPhone, and is widely considered to be the phone that made Android a consumer brand. Verizon pushed hard to ensure the phone’s success too, even licensing the Droid name from Star Wars maker Lucasfilm. Verizon put heavy marketing behind the Motorola Droid, and did the same for a few other models from HTC and Samsung that also used the Droid moniker over the years.

The Motorola Droid shipped with a touchscreen and slide-out keyboard similar to the one seen on the T-Mobile G1. It launched with Android 2 and featured turn-by-turn navigation that was considered to be a major differentiator, as the iPhone only had basic navigation instructions at the time. Verizon’s ad campaign did its job, with the Droid selling 250,000 units in the first week after its release, which in 2009 was quite a considerable feat. The device reached an estimated 1.2 million unit sales by the fourth quarter of Motorola’s 2009 financial year, and set Android on the path to even more popularity.

You can’t discuss Android’s greatest hits without including Samsung as part of the conversation. The Samsung Galaxy Note was a device that broke the mold on smartphone form factors, and even though its screen size was considered ludicrously large at the time, its 5.3-inch span is now considered pretty standard. In many ways, the Galaxy Note helped popularize the “phablet” category, further blurring the line between a phone and tablet. It set the bar for larger screens to the point where many smartphone manufacturers have models in each lineup that exceed that size today.

The Galaxy Note also revitalized the use of a stylus, Apple had actively shunned with the iPhone. The S Pen received good reviews and proved to be a great productivity tool. The phone shipped with a capable 8MP camera that was able to record 1080p video. It sold more than 10 million units in the nine months after release, proving a commercial success for Samsung.

The Note eventually became a key Samsung flagship, though the Note 7 went through dramatic recalls in 2016 due to its tendency to catch fire, making it one of the worst Samsung phones of all time. Samsung stopped making the Galaxy Note in 2021, after the Galaxy Note 20.

The LG G4 was a moment of brilliance in LG’s phone-making era, with screen quality and a camera that set a new bar for what Android smartphones were capable of after its launch in 2015. LG’s improvements pushed other Android manufacturers to improve their photography game after some reviewers said the G4’s screen and camera could match and surpass the iPhone 6 Plus. The G4 featured a 538 ppi density IPS LCD screen compared to the roughly 401 ppi screen on the iPhone 6 Plus. LG’s G4 also had a 16MP, f1.8 camera that received praise for its color accuracy and overall quality.

The G4’s camera featured optic image stabilization on the X, Y, and Z-axes, and when paired with the laser autofocus and color spectrum sensor, it took amazing photos, even in darker conditions. The G4 also had great video capability, shooting 4K video at 30fps. While LG created an amazing phone in the G4, the company stopped making smartphones in 2021, after a series of profit-bleeding years.

The Google Pixel was the first device that saw the tech giant take full control over the hardware and software stack. Launched in 2016, it came after years of Google partnering with other companies to build co-branded Nexus devices. 

Google set out to make a splash too, creating new features for its Pixel devices, including exclusive usage of the Google Assistant for months before it was released to other Android models. Pixel was pitched as Google’s opportunity to showcase Android’s potential to the fullest. To do that, Google improved the UI to focus on the company’s apps and features. The device also came with unlimited cloud storage via Google Photos.

The Pixel’s strong point was its camera. Where the LG G4 won in terms of its camera hardware in 2015, the Pixel had even better quality because of its software. Google has kept focus on photography since then as well. Its most recently launched Pixel 10 was considered the iPhone for Android users when it launched in 2025, and particularly got praise for its improved cameras.

We looked through the archives to find five devices that had the biggest impact on the industry, and set benchmarks for Android phones that followed them. While there are many Android devices out there that have been favorably reviewed and feature great specs, we focused on devices that truly made a mark and set Android on the path to the market dominance it enjoys today.

Honorable mentions should go to the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge with its innovative curved display, and the Samsung Galaxy Fold that helped kick off the modern-day foldable smartphone category. We also couldn’t forget the Huawei range of smartphones, which briefly overtook Samsung’s worldwide smartphone sales in 2020 before U.S. restrictions stifled its business outside of China.

The innovation and diversity these phones have brought to the market have helped Android grow to over 3.8 billion active users, according to Business of Apps. That translates to 73% market share globally, Counterpoint Research said, which means that roughly three-quarters of all smartphones on the planet run on Android.