Google: Gingerbread on half of Android devices

Newly updated figures published by Google show that just over half of all active Android devices are now running version 2.3.x, known as "Gingerbread", of the company's open source mobile operating system. According to the Platform Versions device dashboard on the Android Developer portal, Android 2.3.x devices now account for 50.6% of the total number of devices in use, up 19.3 percentage points compared to two months ago; these figures are based on the number of Android devices that accessed the company's Android Market within a two week period ending on 1 December.

Android 2.2 "Froyo", the previous front-runner, now accounts for just 35.3% of all devices, and version 2.1, known as "Eclair", also continues to decline, dropping from 13.3% two months ago to just 9.6% – devices running the older 1.5 (Cupcake) and 1.6 (Donut) versions make up only 0.8% and 1.3% respectively. Only 2.4% of devices are tablets based on Android 3.0 to 3.2 "Honeycomb".

Distribution of Android versions based on devices accessing the Android Market
Source: Google

However, any references to version 4.0 of Android, known as "Ice Cream Sandwich" or simply "ICS", are noticeably absent from the Platform Versions data. First announced in mid-October, ICS is currently only available on a single device: the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The GSM version of the Galaxy Nexus first launched in the UK on 17 November and is now also available in other countries including Germany. In the US, the CDMA-based Galaxy Nexus on Verizon has been yet to be released. Google published the source code for Android 4.0, which has already been ported for use on x86 systems, in mid-November.

See also:

• Android updates: a vendor lottery, a report from The H.
• Android 4.0: New design, new features, a features from The H.

(crve)