Jelly Bean running on nearly 50% of devices, Android 4.3 finally makes an appearance

The last few months has seen some significant changes in the percentage of devices running the different versions of Android. Just ten months ago Android 2.3.3+ was the most predominant Android version with it running on nearly half of all active Android devices. Now the tables have turned with the Jelly Bean versions of Android running on just under half of all active devices. The actual number is 48.6% and for the first time this number is made up of devices also running Android 4.3.

Since the historic milestone where Android 4.1 became the predominant version of Android, Jelly Bean has continued its rise and last month Android 4.1 and 4.2 had a combined 45 percent share, but Android 4.3 was missing from Google’s statistics. Finally after more than two months Android 4.3 has started to make and impact. Its current share is 1.5 percent.

Android 4.3’s adoption now seems to be inline, if not better, with the adoption rate of previous releases. For example, Android 4.2 was released in mid-November 2012 and by December 3rd 2012  it registered a 0.8 percent share and by January 3rd a 1.2 percent share. 4.3’s 1.5 percent share seems about right.

The Android 4.x branch (including 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) now runs on over two thirds of Android devices. The statistics are generated by Google using data collected during a 7-day period ending on October 2, 2013. All Android versions older than Android 2.2 no longer figure in Google’s numbers as they do not support the new Google Play Store app, which is used as the measure of activity.

Gingerbread usage is now significantly under a third and is heading towards being used on a just a quarter of Android devices. The only other versions of Android which appear in Google’s numbers are Android 2.2 Froyo, with a 2.2 percent share, and Honeycomb with a stubborn 0.1 percent share. Every time Google releases these numbers I expect Honeycomb to have disappeared, but it always seems to manage an appearance. Is there a group of die hard android 3.1 users somewhere who won’t (or can’t) move on?

Samsung is planning to start its Android 4.3 rollout for the Galaxy S4, S3, Note 2 during October and upgrades are already happening for HTC One owners. This should mean that Android 4.3’s share will increase while Android 4.1 and 4.2 decrease. October should also see the release of Android 4.4 KitKat! The November stats will reveal all!