Google's monthly release of its Android distribution numbers, usually in the first week of every month, is something of a tradition for the mobile tech world, especially for those who keep an eye on Android. This month, Android versions 4.0.3 and above (Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean) have finally overtaken versions 2.3 through 2.3.7 Gingerbread.
Donut, Eclair and Froyo still somehow comprise nearly 10 percent of phones running Android. Froyo makes up over 7 percent of that fraction, which isn't too bad for an OS that's been out since May 2010. Version 2.3 Gingerbread also rolled out in 2010, and still makes up a whopping 44 percent of Android OS's. Some phones are still being released with Gingerbread so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise, however.
In the last 14 days, most users who accessed the Google Play store did so with a Gingerbread phone, but nearer the end of the period, the percentage of Jelly Bean phones rose from nearly zero to the 16 to 20 percent range.
The total number of phones running Jelly Bean has finally surpassed Gingerbread, which is good news for Google and yet still daunting as it continues to roll out updates to older phones: consumers are still running phones with an OS more than two years old. That's pretty ancient in the mobile world. We assume they either take very good care of their phones and don't pay enough attention to Android to update when a new version rolls out, or they just have no idea what they're doing with an Android smartphone in the first place. (... Mom?)
Google also posted charts from late last year which will remain useful for developers, such as the screen sizes of devices and the percentage of people in each category. A majority (50.1 percent) have high-resolution screens on a normal-sized display. A quarter of users browse with extra-high resolution on a normal-sized screen.
What version of Android are you running? Let us know in the comments!
