Bill Gates confirms he's still on team Android, not iPhone (2024)

• Bill Gates said he uses a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 during an Ask Me Anything on Reddit.
• He said the chairman of Samsung gave him his phone when he went to South Korea to update his Fold 3.
• Gates previously said he uses an Android because he wants "to keep track of everything."

Bill Gates confirmed he's still on team Android, not iPhone, during his eleventh Ask Me Anything on Reddit.

Reddit user 1oarecare asked the Microsoft cofounder what his "daily driver smartphone" is, noting that Gates said he used a Galaxy Fold during his last AMA.

"I have a Samsung Fold 4 which JY Lee the Chairman of Samsung gave me when I saw him in South Korea to update my Fold 3," Gates responded.

The Galaxy Z Fold4 is a foldable smartphone that isn't cheap: it retails for nearly $1,600 in the US, which is more expensive than the starting price tags for Apple's iPhone 14 and 14 Pro.

Gates said he uses "Outlook and a lot of Microsoft software" on his phone, and because of its screen size, he doesn't use a tablet, "just the phone and my portable PC - a Windows machine."

Android holds around 72% of the mobile operating system market share around the world, according to StatCounter. Apple is in second place with almost 27% of the market share.

Gates said he uses an Android because he wants "to keep track of everything," during an interview on Clubhouse in 2021.

He said he'll "often play around with iPhones," but depends on his Android because he's used to it.

"Some of the Android manufacturers pre-install Microsoft software in a way that makes it easy for me," he said.

In the same question on Reddit about his phone, Gates was asked if he's in the know of upcoming Microsoft products, and if he gets insights into new launches.

"Microsoft involves me in some of the research and product plans," Gates said, adding that he enjoys working with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, but that he's not up to date on the company's hardware roadmap.

Gates, who stepped down as Microsoft CEO in 2000, has said his "greatest mistake ever" was letting Google develop Android.

"The greatest mistake ever is the whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is, [meaning] Android is the standard non-Apple phone form platform," Gates said at an event hosted by venture capital firm Village Global in 2019. "That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win."

Microsoft launched its own Windows-powered phones, but stopped selling them in 2017 after they couldn't make as great of an impact on the smartphone market as Androids and iPhones.