Google has released a detailed report that reveals the continued dominance of Android Jelly Bean over other versions including Gingerbread and KitKat.
Google has released different versions of its Android operating system over the years. Some versions are widely used in millions of Android-based smartphones. Android's Gingerbread, which was released in 2011, was the most popular OS until last year, when Jelly Bean finally took the lead. Jelly Bean accounted for 37.9 percent of all Android smartphones, compared to Gingerbread's 34.1 percent in July last year.
Google's Android Jelly Bean continues to enjoy the biggest share among all Android devices. Jelly Bean is a clubbed version of Android 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. The Google report shows that 59.1 percent of measured Android devices run all three versions of Jelly Bean, with the maximum share going to the 4.1.x (35.9 percent), followed by 4.2.x version with 15.4 percent and finally the 4.3 Jelly Bean (7.8 percent), which was rolled out in July last year.
The new data does not include devices running versions older than Android 2.2, as they do not support the new Google Play Store app. "Only the new app is able to measure the number of devices that actively visit Google Play Store and we believe this measurement best reflects your potential user-base," Google said. The data is collected during a seven-day period that ended on January 8, 2014.
According to Google's monthly statistics, Android KitKat is showing a slight improvement of 0.3 percent from last month. KitKat currently accounts for 1.4 percent of measured Android devices, mainly because the availability is restricted to select models including Nexus and some Motorola phones. Considering Google is rolling out the newest OS to a wider range of smartphones under different brands, the adoptions will spike in the following months.
Despite several phones getting Jelly Bean updates, which has increased 4.6 percent from last month, Gingerbread is still holding on to 21.2 percent share in Android devices although it is slowly losing its audience, dropping its share from 24.1 percent last month to 21.2 percent. Similarly, Ice Cream Sandwich is losing its share, down from 18.6 percent last month to 16.9 percent. The least used versions are Froyo and nearly-extinct Honeycomb with 1.3 percent and 0.1 percent share, respectively.
