The February numbers are out for the distribution of Android versions across the over half a billion devices out there. Basically it appears that trends from previous months are continuing or in other words the instances of devices running Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread and Honeycomb is continuing to decline in usage as either more devices have their software upgraded or people upgrade to new devices running later versions of Android.
| Android Version | January | February |
| 1.6 (Donut) | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| 2.1(Eclair) | 2.4% | 2.2% |
| 2.3-2.3.2(Gingerbread) | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| 2.3.3-2.3.7(Gingerbread) | 47.4% | 45.4% |
| 3.1(HoneyComb) | 0.4% | 0.3% |
| 3.2(HoneyComb) | 1.1% | 1.0% |
| 4.0.3-4.0.4(Ice Cream Sandwich) | 29.1% | 29.0% |
| 4.1(Jelly Bean) | 9.0% | 12.2% |
| 4.2(Jelly Bean) | 1.2% | 1.4% |
(Edit: Got the numbers for Honeycomb mixed around, updated now)
So there you have it, Android 4.X devices are certainly proliferating and with the sub-$50 Ice Cream Sandwich running Huawei Ascend Y201 popping up at Coles a couple of weeks back it’s a sign that Gingerbread is definitely in decline as the go-to OS for the mass market phone makers.
I’m also offering cash to anyone who still has a device running Cupcake right here and now. Tweet me, email me, Google+ me, anything! I intend to start a Cupcake based user group to skew the numbers, we only need half a million or so of us.
this has nothing to do with updates, Just new devices being released with 4.x this makes the old devices % reduce…..i still feel bad that my galaxy 7.7 is struck with ICS and no jellybean (upgraded to ICS from UK rom..there is no ICS update for 7.7 wifi only in Australia yet)
Just curious, with the sheer numbers that the Samsung Galaxy S Series : II and III have sold, you don’t think an update from Gingerbread/ICS to Jelly Bean will make an impact?
i agree, thats very few compared to rest of the devices 🙁
my tab is the most expensive tab of its size and generation still there is no official ICS from samsung 🙁
Yes for this reason I no longer buy Samsung, they made an amazing device but dumped the users with the 7.7 was my last samsung device.
Wont it be amazing if Donut would overtake Honeycomb 3.1
is it safe enough to brand google’s software rollout system a complete failure now? almost half of android users are on a version that is over two years old, aka 5-6 versions behind the current one. this is a joke that android users (of which i am a rabid one) seem to gloss over.
It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s not one that has a magic bullet solution. Google can’t FORCE hardware manufacturers to provide software upgrades for old devices, and they have very little incentive to update them.
Most people don’t care what version of Android their phone is running, and OEMs would prefer that people buy a new phone instead.
Well, the abundance of handsets that are on the market using old versions of Android is not exactly Googles fault. It is due to the open nature of the OS, unfortunately whilst the code is out there for anyone to use there will always be handsets that are left for dead. That said, it’s a fine line for Google to walk with regards to keeping Android alive, open and accessible for as many people as possible whilst exerting pressure to maintain the OS version. Also, I have Android handsets which I don’t believe would handle the upgrade from Gingerbread to… Read more »
“google’s software rollout system a complete failure ” nah, totally disagree. Google are the only ones doing it right … they release phones with the latest Android version. It’s all the other manufacturers (Nexus excluded) that are doing it wrong. As Graham mentioned, the majority of Android users don’t care anyway. They probably don’t even know there is a newer version.
i still have a Vodafone Magic that runs on cupcake…
Cash being offered for sale of said cupcake device.
Someone needs to make a Cupcake rom for the Nexus 4!
🙂 we’re at a stage where Android users get Nostalgic and Retro?
Google’s old stuff is way better than their new stuff. They sold out when they went mainstream.
lol’d
What the hell? both 3.1 and 3.2 honeycomb is up! how the hell does that happen?
I think the numbers are mixed up. 3.1 should go from 0.4% to 0.3%, and 3.2 goes from 1.1% to 1%
Right you are, my mistake. I’ve updated the table to reflect this.