After watching Google roll out Android 17 last week, Bloomberg’s lead Apple reporter Mark Gurman has put a fresh number on how long it will take Apple to catch up. The timeline is shorter than his last estimate, but the math still isn’t in Apple’s favor.
A 1-2 year gap, and the clock is still moving
In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman writes that at Apple’s current pace, he doesn’t expect the company to catch up to Google for another one to two years. By the time Apple does get there, he notes, Google and other rivals will likely have moved even further ahead.That’s actually a tighter estimate than the 2-3 year gap Gurman called out back in 2024. However, while the progress is real, the problem is that the goalposts keep moving.
2026’s ‘The Android Show’ puts into perspective how far behind Apple is from its competitors. | Image by Google
