Nearly 40% of Android devices running Android 4.0 or later

Android version share for accesses to the Google Play Store
Source: developer.android.com The latest numbers from Google on devices accessing the Google Play store show that nearly 40% of the devices are running Android 4.0 or later. The data collates access to the store in the two weeks up to 3 January. Android 2.3 though still has a solid hold with 47.6% of devices running the Gingerbread flavour of the mobile OS. Of the Android 4.x devices, the majority, 29.1% are running Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0.x; the newer Jelly Bean 4.1 picks up a 9% share and the newest Jelly Bean, 4.2, picks up 1.2%.

Android 1.6 has nearly slipped from visibility with only 0.2% accessing the store, and Android 2.1 isn't far behind at 2.4%. Froyo, Android 2.2, comes in with a healthy 9%. The tablet-only, and effectively obsolete (with the release of Android 4.x) Honeycomb manages only 1.5% in total; the few tablets that existed with it have either been updated or discontinued.

Version share over time

Source: developer.android.com Google will, most likely, be pleased with the progress Android 4 is making, but that large contingent of Gingerbread users is likely to be a worry as the share of the Play store accesses slowly drifts down. Given the data is from the Christmas period, they can at least be happy that Gingerbread's share didn't increase. The Google numbers only reflect devices with access to the Google Play Store, so Android-based devices such as the Amazon Kindle or the many low-cost OEM tablets available are not reflected in the numbers.

(djwm)