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The days just keep flying by. Last month, Google flipped the script, changing the way they displayed Android’s distribution numbers. Today, they’ve been updated for the month of April, letting us keep an eye on various Android firmwares from active devices (those who’ve pinged the Google Play Store within the last 2 weeks).
Jelly Bean makes a steady climb to 28.4% (from 25% last month) snatching away users from Ice Cream Sandwich which saw a drop to 27.5% (down from last month’s 29.3%). Gingerbread is still hanging strong at 38.5%, only a slight drop from last month’s 39.8%. With Key Lime Pie expected to launch with the next Nexus device at the end of this year, Android OEM’s still have some time to push out a few more updates by then.
Man, so many people have to be pissed they are still on gingerbread. My heart goes out to them.
I think the people who are still on Gingerbread have 2-year old+ devices and quite frankly don’t even know their phone is running Android, let alone the firmware number.
The numbers might also be a little misleading. My Droid Incredible still runs Gingerbread, and hits the Play store every now and then, but is used pretty much exclusively these days as an alarm clock. Hence, I’m not sure it should really count, even though it probably does :)
same with my Nexus One its a glorified alarm clock, but auto update is on son it still connects to the play store I’m just too lazy to change the settings.
Was this Nation wide or global? Cause if it’s global, then it makes sense. Third world countries are definitely running Gingerbread
Global. And that’s a good point. China alone probably made up half of these numbers previously, but Google changed the way they get their numbers so if someone hasn’t use the Play Store recently (and are using some Chinese version of it), they no longer account for these totals.
I agree people using a gingerbread phone do not care about their phone’s added functions at all those are phones for calling and texting and maybe the occasional Facebook update.
Sorry, some of us DO know the difference. Custom roms make all the difference to us, especially those of us who don’t have/can’t afford, or don’t NEED to spend 500+ on such devices. (Or who have no desire to get stuck in long term contracts that end up making the phone even MORE expensive.)
And thankfully there’s Tmobile.
So you’re not on Gingerbread, then? You might has well have just said, “You’re right, Chris. I agree 100%.”
I AM on gingerbread. The mikg3.11 rom for my EVO is GB and a mix of sense 2/3.
Or they’re Droid 3 owners who don’t have the money to get to a new device prior to upgrade availability on Verizon.
Thanks for the comment though.
A lot of people don’t care what firmware they are using and don’t have the money to buy 600$ smartphones… they just know that when they buy an Android phone.. they know is going to work Well …
I’m on a two year old device (Evo 3D) and I’m on ICS. My guess is that it is a lot of lower end devices and third world countries making up a lot of Ginger bread.
Count me in as pissed. Moto/Verizon’s horrible handling of the Droid 3 was a damn shame.
I was running an ICS rom on my D3 for a while, but then I bricked it when I was trying to upgrade to a newer build. Verizon tells me that the phone couldn’t handle ICS, despite the fact that similarly specced phones got the upgrade. Too bad for Moto. Their deal with Verizon lost them a customer all because of the gimping of what could have been a really nice ICS device.
JB kicks ass butter smooth on my galaxy S4
lol pos win8 cant even beat BB
I think even Win8 is doing better than BB these days……BB is going down
Gingerbread devices are only getting older at this point. This chart will be very different, very soon, as those devices break or burn out over time.
For US phones yes. But Chris says this is a global pie chart, so on a global scale, GB will continue to hold at least 25% for years to come.
A 5 generation old OS (by 2015) will retain at least a quarter of the version pie?? C’mon.
World wide, yes. You’d be surprised how long third world people hold on to technology.
Tech is only moving faster by the year and smartphone sales (with more current OS versions) is also on the rise.
Froyo’s 3rd birthday is coming up and it has plummeted all the way down to 3% share.
To Froyo’s defense, the reason so many phone are on GB, is cause many phones sold with 2.2, and were later upgraded to 2.3 GB. But after 2.3 GB, no phones that had 2.3 ever upgraded to 4.0 For that reason, there are many GB phones in the wild.
Ill give you the win here BUT my GS2 sure enjoyed going from GB to ICS.
My Sensation liked the upgrade from 2.3 to 4.0, too.
That is so patently wrong. Many devices were upgraded from 2.3 to 4.0. There are so many phones with 2.3 because that is when Android phones became really popular.
The big problem is that the phones are almost not getting any updates outside US and UE. Most Gingerbread phones could run 4.2.2 without any issues if the greedy carriers OTA… They prefer to sell new phones and some countries have 3 years contracts…
Even new phones coming out around the world run GB? I didn’t know that. Is there a reason why?
That’s not what I said. I said people in other countries keep using a GB phone for years longer than you or me would.
GB is the Honda Civic of Android lol.
Simple. As long as vendors keep putting out single core cpu / memory constrained hardware such as the zte score/samsung vitality and a zillion others just like em’, GB is the only good fit as it runs okay. ICS and JB require much more memory as a baseline. The budget droid phones cannot run them (ics/jb) efficiently if at all.
Interesting. Thank you =)
Actually, as a resident in Argentina, it is not so much releases of gingerbread based android phones as the cost of a new phone. Double or more the USA retail cost. Imagine an s4 being 1,500 dollars instead of 600 dollars. So as a result, people here do not change phones every year, sometimes not even every two years like in the states. (Here the contracts are like t-mobile, either bring your own phone, or pay 75% to full price.) Smartphone are just starting to become the norm here, many people still have their feature phones.
Thanks for info from Argentina
You are welcome, just wanted to add perspective. Many USA citizens do not realize the cost of electronics in other countries, wether it be due to bad inflated currency, corruption, high import tax, or a combination of those. Technology in brazil is more costly than argentina, yet cheaper in uruguay, but still not as throwaway cheap as the USA.
Do you have access to the Google Play store in Argentina? What is the cost of a Nexus4 16GB ?
Access to google games and apps only atm. The nexus 4 can only be imported from thid party retailers, at about 6-700 dollars equivalent (3-5k pesos argentinos)
i can definitely see people in impoverished 3rd world countries still rocking their gingerbread handsets wearing 2012 superbowl champion new england patriots T-shirts.
Just picked up an old HTC EVO 4g (used) to replace a starter droid pos phone…and with the mikg3.11 rom(gb) it does the job beautifully. Some of us KNOW this stuff, but refuse to drop scads of money on what amounts to teeny-tiny-keyboardless netbooks. (Especially those of us who refuse to get their asses ripped off by big carriers and their stupid contracts.)
From what I can tell Straight Talk is still only selling Gingerbread android devices so take that into consideration as well
@MarcusDW: Why are you thankful we have t-mobile? Because they did away with contracts? You can go without a cintract on any carrier. With t-mobile you have to either buy the phone at full cost or make payments. No different than going on contract with other carriers. If you break your contract with another carrier you are penalized the remaining cost of the phone. Just like you will be if you want to get out of the payments to t-mobile for your phone. The prices may differentiate some between options and carriers. I think it’s great that t-mobile is doing away with contracts but you DO have the option to do that on any carrier. I am currently on t-mobile cintract free. I purchased my S3 at full cost. I started with t-mobile last August and it has been the absolute worst experience I have ever had with a carrier and their service. And this is coming from someone who came from Cricket! I would suggest anyone and EVERYONE to steer clear of t-mobile if you want good service. I am in Denver and they are HORRIBLE here. HORRIBLE!!!! I’m sorry but I have never been so upset and frustrated over a cell service. They have lost my business forever!
Just goes to show that everyone has different experiences. I’ve been on cricket for 3+ years, and service/signal has been excellent and have friends who swear by t-mobile. -shrugs.
I haven’t read through all of the comments, but people seem to be forgetting that at least 3 of the 4 big US carriers are still selling phones with Gingerbread on them. I haven’t taken the time to look through Sprint’s offerings.