eli5: Why do computer operating systems have lots of viruses and phone operating systems don’t?

Question

eli5: Why do computer operating systems have lots of viruses and phone operating systems don’t?

In: 5085

Answer 1

I’d like to point out that viruses don’t have much utility and most of what’s deployed on phones is malware, designed to steal private data which most people tend to keep on their phones. This malware is different from viruses because it actually needs the the phone to continue working properly and for the user to not know it’s infected.