diff --git a/apex/apex.go b/apex/apex.go
index 4a6a1aeba..26ac457ea 100644
--- a/apex/apex.go
+++ b/apex/apex.go
@@ -69,10 +69,12 @@ func RegisterPostDepsMutators(ctx android.RegisterMutatorsContext) {
 	ctx.BottomUp("apex_unique", apexUniqueVariationsMutator).Parallel()
 	ctx.BottomUp("apex_test_for_deps", apexTestForDepsMutator).Parallel()
 	ctx.BottomUp("apex_test_for", apexTestForMutator).Parallel()
+	// Run mark_platform_availability before the apexMutator as the apexMutator needs to know whether
+	// it should create a platform variant.
+	ctx.BottomUp("mark_platform_availability", markPlatformAvailability).Parallel()
 	ctx.BottomUp("apex", apexMutator).Parallel()
 	ctx.BottomUp("apex_directly_in_any", apexDirectlyInAnyMutator).Parallel()
 	ctx.BottomUp("apex_flattened", apexFlattenedMutator).Parallel()
-	ctx.BottomUp("mark_platform_availability", markPlatformAvailability).Parallel()
 }
 
 type apexBundleProperties struct {