Across retail, F&B, and hospitality, payment experiences are getting easier and more mobile. Paying used to mean standing in a checkout line or waiting for a server to run your card back at the terminal. Now it can happen anywhere, at any time.
The main driver behind this shift is the rise of Android-based payment terminals. These handheld devices can replace the standalone terminal at your checkout counter, or travel with staff to accept payment wherever the customer happens to be.
The prevalence of these devices is no coincidence: data from Counterpoint Research shows that the Android devices comprised almost half (48%) of all POS terminal shipments in 2025.
Here are the main reasons the industry is moving to Android — and why the businesses adopting these terminals now will be the ones ready for what comes next.
1. An all-in-one POS
Legacy terminals aren’t doing much besides taking payments. An Android terminal with all-in-one capabilities can handle the order, sale, payment, loyalty and more from the same screen, which means fewer systems that can fall out of sync.
Having devices running on an Android operating system provides seamless mobile payment experiences across your estate. The same platform covers a countertop lane device, a handheld that a server carries through the restaurant, and a fully mobile device where the point of sale and the payment application live together on one screen. This is often added alongside an existing counter setup rather than replacing it.
2. Quicker service
A fixed terminal decides where payment happens, and therefore everything has to come back to the standalone device. That’s the bottleneck, whether it shows up as a server crossing the restaurant multiple times to close one check or a queue forming at checkout. A handheld Android device takes payment where the customer already is, so the checkout counter stops setting the pace.
These devices can also have cellular backup so that there’s automatic fail over to another network if the primary carrier goes down. These mobile devices stay online instead of creating friction due to spotty wireless connection.
3. A platform providers build on, rather than rebuild
Older terminals usually run a legacy, proprietary operating system created by the device manufacturer. Software had to be built separately for every vendor by developers who specialized in that one platform, so new capabilities were slow to build and expensive to come by, and you largely waited on someone else’s roadmap. Android changed the starting point. Payment technology providers can now build on the same operating system instead of each maintaining their own, delivering updates to merchants much faster.
4. Integral to a better customer experience
The look, feel, and performance of your payment terminals is essential to the entire customer experience. If your customer is paying on a small display accompanied by chipped buttons and a slow loading screen, it’s going to make an impact. Android terminals look, feel, and perform like the devices your customers already use, so their experience can always end on a positive note.
The bigger screens change what the payment moment can actually do. Instead of a display that only has room for a PIN pad, you have space for a tip prompt that doesn’t feel cramped, a loyalty sign-up the customer can complete right there, and prominent branding on a screen that captures the full attention of your customers.
5. You don’t have to rebuild your integration to get there
The most common objection to new payment hardware is the integration frustration. There’s the assumption that a new device means a new integration, a new certification, and months of project work before anything goes live.
If you run FreedomPay payment middleware, moving to Android can be a simple upgrade with zero additional integration work. The point of sale stays as it is, your software vendor’s certification stays as it is, and devices are still USB hot-swappable across your estate with automatic offline mode.
None of this is automatic, and it’s the right question to ask any provider before you commit. Some paths do require a new integration, and there are good reasons to choose one—such as a completely new POS. The point is that a new integration should be a choice you make, not a toll you pay for getting off aging hardware.
What this means for your business
With the rise of Android, the payment terminal has stopped being a stagnant device that processes transactions and has quickly become a platform that can run part of your business and improve operations all around. Counterpoint Research expects Android to account for roughly 70% of global POS shipments by 2032, showing that the growth will only continue. The question now isn’t whether your next terminal runs Android, but whether your provider treats it as something to keep building on — and whether getting there costs you a rebuild or just an upgrade.