74 percent of devices running version 4 or higher
Google has released the monthly report of version numbers, where we can see just what version of Android (in what amount) people are visiting Google Play with. As expected, KitKat debuts with a tiny slice holding just 1.1 percent of the total.
Jelly Bean in all its various flavors has captured just over half the pie with a 54 percent total, while Gingerbread is still holding on with 24 percent, down from 26 percent just a month ago. Froyo is dead, and I think it's a good time for developers to drop support for Android 2.2 going forward with new apps.
Maybe the oddest statistic is Honeycomb, which refuses to die completely and still has 0.1 percent of the total. I think that may be the Motorola Xoom lost behind Phil's couch.
A lot of fuss will be made over these numbers, but what's most important is the amount of devices on 4.x and higher, which is right around three-quarters of the total with 74 percent. The purpose of these charts is to tell developers what version to target as a minimum, and developers starting with a "modern" versions will have a huge user base to court with great apps.
Source: Google
Reader comments
Google releases Dec. platform numbers - KitKat debuts at 1.1 percent
I think Jelly Bean is the new Gingerbread in these numbers games and we'll see it hang on to a good percentage for a while. Hopefully KitKat and it's smaller footprint will be the end to that kind of trend though and from here on out Android will continue to run better on lower end hardware allowing faster and more progressive updates.
Hopefully KitKat's focus on lower end devices starts to kill off gingerbread devices.
Though I've noticed lately that even lower end hardware is selling with jellybean 4.1
which is a vast improvement over gingerbread, even without kit kat.
Froyo isn't dead, it's just sleeping! Until this weekend I had two 2.2 HTC magic handsets sat in a drawer waiting for repurposing. One just got brought back into service as a dedicated Google play music portal hooked into some speakers. I'll probably root and bring it up to Gingerbread shortly so I can stick Tunein Radio onto it and leave it there for evermore. If it works out, the other handset will probably follow suit into a different room.
Posted via Android Central App
My Sony Internet TV (Google TV) is still rocking Honeycomb. Nearly all of the legacy Google TV devices are still using it.
Feels good to be in that 1.1%
Posted via Android Central App
Im the 1.1% too
My friend has a honeycomb tab too.
Posted via my weird GT-P3113
It'd be great if we could see that stats for the year, so we could see the change at a glance. I guess that will be for the stattos with time on their hands!
Just had a look at the October stats, looks like GB has dropped 4.4% in 2 months which is a big fall. I would bet that it will fall another 4% in the next 2 months because of all the Xmas sales where lots of GB handsets get upgraded to new shinys and because the total number of android handsets will increase, the percentage share will go down. Here's hoping!
I just wonder when I could join that 4.3 stat, Damn you Sammy and your buggy S3 updates!!!
I bet its more like a drop of 5-6‰ in 2 months cause a lot of those 2.3 phones were sold 2 or more years ago now
Aka they will be getting replaced at an ever faster rate as we move into 2014
Dam verizon has to Ok the G note 2 android 4.3 update our I'm sure i'd be moving up already
Posted from My GNote 2 via AC App
"4.x and higher"?
Where can I get one of these devices that has an Android version higher than 4.x? :p
Posted via Android Central App
I am one of that 1% who has kitkat.I LOVE YOU GOOGLE
Google Nexus FTW;-)
Posted via Android Central App from Nexus 7 2013
I still have two phones in my household still unfortunately on 1.5 (the phone was promised an update but in the end LG couldn't be bothered). Two LG GW620 or Eve or InTouch Max (they had a lot of different names), my Mum still uses one but I think I am going to need to force an intervention - it's so painfully slow to use when she has a problem!
Posted via Android Central App on my Motorola XT890 RAZR i
The Xoom got updated to 4.1.2 and that was the last update it got. I have one. My kids use it to watch movies and shows on Netflix and Google play.
Posted via Android Central App
My Logitech Revue is stuck on 3.2.
Running 4.4 on both my First Gen Nexus 7 and my HTC One,Google Edition Conversion.
My Google TV is still stuck on honeycomb...
I love that thing, but I wish they would provide updates /better support
Posted via Android Central App
Same here where is the love Google???
Posted from My GNote 2 via AC App
The Motorola Xoom tablet has Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)...I have that tablet.
KitKat is still new and available to only a few devices like: Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Moto X (soon), Samsung Galaxy S4 & HTC One Google Edition...others will follow suit soon but that's it so far.
I'm the 1%.
My Moto X and Nexus 7 are riding smooth on kitkat!
Posted via Android Central App
I am the 1%.
Posted via Android Central App
Phil find that xoom!!
Posted via Android Central App
I'm the 1%!!
Posted via Android Central App
That means at least 1.1% of android users own a Nexus, GPE, or a Moto X
Posted via Android Central App
Or just rooted
Posted via Android Central App
THIS
Why can't Gingerbread just die? It's been here for too long. It's ugly, slow, and laggy. How do people deal with that dusty OS version.
KitKat seems pretty off to a good start for an month-old OS at 1.1%. Neither JellyBean nor ICS had even 1% within a month of their releases.
The problem is that GB was what landed on many of the first prepaid Android phones, and, since you pay more for a prepaid phone, people who get them are less likely to upgrade as quickly as those who get a subsidized price. I'm afraid that some of those things will remain in use until they die.
Posted via Android Central App
I want Kit Kat.
Posted via Android Central App
I don't know if I'm looking at these numbers right. But, from:
* I had to remove the link because the site didn't like it -- it's from 9to5google *
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said in April 2013:
"320 operators, 160 countries, 700,000 apps in the Play Store, and 1.5 million sales / activations of Android every single day. We’ll cross a billion towards the end of this year...."
So, 1 billion android installs? And, in about a month, Kit-Kat has 1.1% of that?
1 x 10^9 x 1.1 * 10^(-2) = 1.1 x 10^ 7 or 11,000,000 installs
The chart isn't measuring installs, it measures androids accessing play store.
I wouldn't put much thought into getting an average number, but your calculation should give you a good ball park that they installed a lot. However the right number is likely up or down a million.
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus still on 3.2. An ICS update was made available (maybe even JB by now) but it's not available OTA. Kies on my PC tells me an update is available, but will never let me update. So I've given up. Honeycomb it is. I've moved on to other devices anyway.
And Gingerbread at a staggering 24.1%! Remarkable!! Lol
At least its been getting smaller. (Just not small enough)
Posted from the awesome new Nexus 7
Yeah, but very slowly.
Windows XP alone still has more than 33% share of all computer OSes. Imagine Gingerbread lasting that long.
Nah, XP's a classic which can't die. Gingerbread? Not so much
Sent via the Android 5.0 MilkShake.
Should make app developers jobs easier. Good to see fragmentation coming to an end.
Posted via Android Central App on BlackBerry Z30
you still have to develop for the lowest common denominator.
We have someone using our app (GoFormz) with a HTC EVO View 4G that is still on Android 3.2. They are always asking for help because lots of random things don't work. The problem is, we can't really test Honeycomb because there are no devices still running it...guess I could put and old rom on our old Transformer Pad TF101.
use the emulator built into the SDK
I think some of the ICS numbers may be due to the cheap tablets still for sale. I'm seeing some discount sites still pushing these things.
Posted via Android Central App
a lot of those tablets do not get to access the play store (not certified) so they are not included
Good point.
I'll bet there are some really upset folks out there when they get one of these turds, only to realize they can't install any apps from Google Play because it isn't there. Sure, you could sideload them, but anyone who doesn't realize that these cheapo devices may not have access to Google services probably won't know how.
Posted via Android Central App
even the ones that you can it is a bit of a PITA. I did it for an experiment and just getting the playstore was tough, and very unreliable at times.
I would tell someone who bought one of these to install amazon and use that...
if app developers would just quit any and all support for anything earlier than 4.0, those others would go away.
Or, if google would retire 2.3 instead of letting low cost phones use it, it would go away.
keeping 2.3 around screws over the developers and consumers.
If I am a developer, I can't just drop support for this old ass OS or 26% of my customer base won't be able to buy it.
Guess I don't get it. Apple updates their OS and developers start requiring it. Customers move on or do without. Not really an issue since carriers don't get in the way of updates.
it goes both ways. developers will still support 2.x because there are still 25% of the total android users who use this version. apple forces their updates down your throat hence why developers abandon older versions - because 90%+ are on the latest iOS version. samsung is largely to blame for these 25% of android users who are still using gingerbread.
So the large amount of terrible ZTE, hauwei, and cool pad phones don't mean anything to you? Its not Samsung fault really, a large number of manufacturers make low end smart phones with gingerbread baked in.
Posted via Android Central App
Well with the holidays you are going to see 4.3 go up before you see 4.4 since most of the big sellers are sitting there. February will be the next big bump for 4.4
----------------------------------------------------
So where is the competition for the Note 3? Oh right there isn't any...
If I'm not mistaken that 1.1% should be mostly due to Nexus 5s and Nexus 7s and perhaps Moto Xs. More than likely no nexus 4s or Google Editions went into that 1.1% of Kit Kat.
That and the introduction of Moto Gs should bring Kit Kat levels up some.
I'm guessing we'll see Kit Kat at 3% by January and maybe as high as 7% by February.
No Moto G has KitKat yet, they don't count.
Even if the G had Kit Kat, it wouldnt matter. A metric butt ton of SGS4, G2 and HTC Ones are being sold right now and they are all on 4.3.
I am not saying that Kit Kat percentages will go down, but they are not going to go up at all either.
Mid to late January the One, Note 3 and SGS4 will all get Kit Kat and you will then see it spike up to something close to 10% depending on when they roll out.
Don't also forget the Galaxy S5 and the One's successor phone also releases with KitKat around that same time in January-Feb. That also helps the percentage rise even higher.
I am guessing they are more March - April for those two. After whatever the big show in February is.
7%?!? Boy, you crazy!
Imagine competition for the Galaxy Note 3 that won't happen till the Note 4.
Posted from my Galaxy Note 3 on Tmobile via Android Central App
LOL! Off topic
Sent via the Android 5.0 MilkShake.
he is referring to my AC app signature above...
I wonder how many people .1% is
posting while eating gummybears in your girlfriends bedroom
The HTC Flyer is on Honeycomb, too
Posted via Android Central App
My LG G-Slate is contributing to the .1% too
My friend just texted a screenshot of his Sprint GS3 just got updated last night to 4.4.21 KitKat, here in Saint Louis. I read nothing lately except for the 4.3 was supposed to come to it. I'm on Verizon with a gs3 still on 4.1.2 and they are passed the Nov 22nd date for the GS3 update to 4.3
My GoogleTV is Still on honeycomb
Where is the love Google?????
Posted from My GNote 2 via AC App