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It’s the time of the month when the Android Developers dashboard updates us on the current state of Android (current version numbers, that is). Typically, this data is meant for app developers to use when weighing out which Android versions are worth targeting. For the rest of us? Well, we just find it fun to keep track.
Keep in mind these numbers do not account for Chinese knockoffs, or any other Android devices running alternative app stores, only those with Play services and devices that have recently pinged the Google Play Store. For the week ending on February 4th (today), here are the quick stats as compared against the previous month’s.
January 2014 -> February 2014
- Gingerbread: 21.2% -> 20%
- Ice Cream Sandwich: 16.8% -> 16.1%
- Jelly Bean (combined): 59.1% -> 60.7%
- KitKat: 1.4% -> 1.8%
Alright, so not much change on the Android front. Gingerbread is still on the decline (most likely due to hardware failure), with Ice Cream Sandwich also dropping. Given that Jelly Bean is still on the rise, we’re hoping this means a few extra ICS handsets were finally upgraded to Jelly Bean, but there’s no way to be sure. Also, it’s not really fair to lump Jelly Bean together, as any diehard Android fanboy will tell you, there’s a big difference between Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.
KitKat numbers are also trickling on in, and although it’s not much right now, we expect that number will make a big jump once 2014 flagships from HTC and Samsung finally hit the market.
I expected KitKat to climb higher than that. It’s better than nothing at least. Hopefully KitKat takes over JellyBean soon to reduce the fragmentation. Especially with the fact that it only requires 512 RAM to run smoothly so no phone OEM should have any excuse to use any older version of Android from now on.
And how the hell are Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich still here? It’s 2014 for petes sake.
because some people still use old phones that never seen upgrades past GB
If only everyone updated phones as fast as Nexus / Moto X.
Gingerbread phones don’t get OTA updates to 4.x. I have a friend thats still has a Galaxy S2 and he never updated to 4.x because he never plugs it to the computer to run Kies. I’ve been hounding him for months to do it, but he is content with Gingerbread. Alot of people are resistant to change, or are afraid of upgrade horror stories (like iOS users usually have),
I remember the Galaxy S2 updated to about the beginning point of Jelly Bean at max. How did your friend not get 4.1 on his GS2?
ICS was horrible on my GS2 when it came to battery life. I had a backup of a GB ROM when I wanted to play games or needed my phone to last. That was the only way I’d get 24+ hours.
I can’t believe there’s still so many GB devices out there o_0
kill them with fire
My friend is using a Nexus 1 for a hold-on phone. It’s running GB.
Part of the 1.8 ‰
And proud! :D
The funny thing is, I bet that the 1.8% of devices running kitkat means that roughly 1% of the Android user base is running kitkat. Both of my devices are running kitkat, and I’d assume a lot of people on kitkat have two devices (probably nexuses).
I’d bet this is related to “official” rollout numbers anyways… Add at least a couple % for those of us who like to root and have already at the very least had a couple KK roms on our phones over the last couple of months.
Yep, you can count me in that number too.
Yes. A Nexus 7 tablet is one of my devices. =.3
I cant even imagine still using a device on freaking Gingerbread…
Jelly Bean is already on its way to becoming the new Gingerbread now with KitKat out.
I had a Huawei with Gingerbread from 2013…
I feel sorry for your soul
Blame Samsung for the low KitKat percentage
My mother in law still has her trusty atrix 4g running froyo. Never any issues and perfectly happy with it as is. I updated my galaxy s3 last week and within a day it crashed and now it will not load galaxy boot animation. Maybe she is onto something
Man I have fond memories of my ol’ Atrix. Stable and solid, with a working fingerprint scanner to boot.
Part of the 1.8%
While it’s great to see Gingerbread falling and JB and KK rising, I’d sure like to see less 4.1.x and more 4.3.x.