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Placeholder Partner: Ethereum is like Android compared to Solana's iOS.

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Ethereum, similar to Android, is rapidly becoming a platform for third-party networks rather than a destination for most end-users and developers.

Original author: Joel Monegro, Partner at Placeholder

Original source: Foresight News

Ethereum is to Solana what Android is to iOS.

Android values modularity: it can run on a variety of devices produced by hundreds of manufacturers worldwide; devices produced by Google only account for 1-2% of them. This makes Android the most popular mobile operating system in the world, occupying approximately 60-75% of the market share. The flexibility of Android is a blessing for hardware companies producing smartphones, TVs, and other products, as they can push new products to the market without investing billions of dollars in building an operating system. However, this diversity also makes it more difficult for developers to create applications that seamlessly run on devices with different specifications, screen sizes, and various versions of Android.

By contrast, all iOS devices are produced by Apple, so it can provide users and developers with a more integrated and consistent experience. There is no need to optimize across different devices, and the time saved can be used to provide better applications that users are willing to pay extra for. Therefore, it is not uncommon for companies to first release their apps on iOS. Although Apple only occupies about one-third of the market share, it does better in acquiring ecosystem value, accounting for about 60% of all mobile spending (including all hardware revenue).

This is not a literal analogy, but it is a useful one. Ethereum is similar to Android in that it is rapidly becoming a platform for third-party networks, rather than the destination for most end-users and developers. The L2 network ecosystem, which uses the Ethereum mainnet for security and leverages the EVM as an operating system, is growing rapidly, processing about 5-6 times more transactions than the Ethereum mainnet, and this number is expected to quickly expand to 100 times or more. These third-party networks are like different Android OEMs: many offer directly competitive services with little differentiation, while others focus on specific markets or use cases. As more tools make launching L2 easier, we can anticipate Ethereum's "reach" expanding to cover hundreds of networks, processing far more transactions than the Ethereum mainnet.

EVM is expected to continue to be the most popular blockchain operating system, running on thousands of different networks and rollups across markets, fields, and use cases. Even if the mainnet only accounts for a fraction of its total value, Ethereum will benefit greatly from this expanding ecosystem. However, this diversity brings many challenges similar to Google Android. For example, different EVM networks can run slightly different operating system versions, so Ethereum smart contracts cannot guarantee seamless operation on all of these networks by default. Developers must spend extra time adjusting, testing, and maintaining for different environments. For ordinary users, the user experience of Ethereum may also become fragmented: an application on one network may not be available on another network, and wallets may not support all networks simultaneously. Switching between them may cause confusion or even danger for ordinary users. Over time, these user experience issues will gradually improve, just as Android becomes smoother and more secure as it develops. Nevertheless, developers still face the burden of investing more time to solve these problems.

On the other hand, Solana, like iOS, tightly integrates components in the name of throughput and performance. In addition, Solana adopts different consensus mechanisms and design principles. Ultimately, it is faster and cheaper as a single, unified network compared to Ethereum and many other EVM networks. Developers can focus on providing better applications for a single high-performance platform without worrying about transaction speed, gas cost optimization, and cross-chain deployment, and users do not have to worry too much about slow transactions, switching between networks, or inconsistent wallet support.

Of course, this is a surface-level analogy and many details are not covered. But it is important to understand that this is a game of choices, not winners and losers. It is not important who is absolutely and objectively "better"; what is important is that this debate will never end. Some people value the flexibility of modularization, while others value the speed and simplicity of more integrated platforms. What is important is that there are options, and you can choose the option that is best for you. The success of the industry requires competitive platforms with different trade-offs, maximizing the choices available to developers and users. Today, Ethereum and Solana embody this spirit and have become the two most promising smart contract networks in the market.

Understanding where we stand in the financial and technological cycle is crucial for investors. Bear markets are the best time to survey the market and become a new winner during major consolidation periods. Maximalism will make you only support Ethereum, Bitcoin, or any network they like and give up everything else, but this is more emotional than logical. In fact, there was a time when Bitcoin was the only legitimate digital asset; and there was a time when, despite alternatives, Ethereum (like IBM in its heyday) was the only real game in town.