Threes is the better game, IIRC there's only one rule difference but it makes all the difference. And I really feel for the small team that spent months designing Threes only for a clone of a clone to be the one that everyone remembers.

No, that's a completely different game, with different mechanics and a very different feeling. Threes feels more slow and methodical and 2048 feels more fluid and slidey.

Both are very good games, but only one of them became a world wide sensation.

I don’t recall 2048 being nearly as big as Wordle, or say Flappy Bird, but of course it’s fairly subjective.