CyanogenMod is, without a doubt, the biggest and the most popular custom ROM available for majority of the Android devices out there. The custom ROM that initially started as a one-man project by Steve Kondik now includes hundreds, or perhaps, thousands of developers, and a user-base that is now 5 million users strong! Yes, CyanogenMod custom ROM now runs on 5 million Android devices across the world.
While 5 million might be a small number considering the total number of Android devices out there (750 million+), the user base is still quite big to be ignored. Keep in mind that this 5 million installs number only includes official and unofficial (user compiled) builds of the ROM. It does not include hundreds of ROMs out there that also use the CM source as a base. If you are looking for an overall number of custom ROM users out there, you can safely peg the number anywhere between 8 to 9 million.
The CyanogenMod Stats page also paints an interesting picture. While Samsung may be hated for being unfriendly towards developers, majority of the CyanogenMod users are using a Samsung device. The top 10 “Installs by Device” includes the Galaxy S, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Ace, and the Galaxy 5. The device with the highest number of CM installs is the original Galaxy S, with more than 200,000 Galaxy S owners running a version of CyanogenMod on their device.
As a CyanogenMod lover and user myself, I would like to congratulate the team on their success!