Jelly Bean was running 59.1% of Android devices in December

posted by Alan F. / Jan 11, 2014, 11:25 PM

Jelly Bean was running 59.1% of Android devices in December

The latest Android distribution numbers for December are out and as expected, the three builds of Jelly Bean led the way. Android 4.1, Android 4.2 and Android 4.3 together accounted for 59.1% of Android devices in use during the month. That is up from the 54.5% scored by Jelly Bean last month. More precisely, in December 2013, Android 4.1 was on 35.9% of the devices powered by Google's open source OS. That lead all builds of Android. 15.4% of Android devices had Android 4.2 installed while 7.8% featured Android 4.3.

While KitKat had a small .3% boost to 1.4%, the percentage of Android devices with Gingerbread running the show declined by 3%. The two builds of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android 4.0.3 and Android 4.0.4, together accounted for 16.9% of Android models last month.

As time goes on, we should see KitKat's percentage rise as the number of Android models running on Jelly Bean stabilizes and the use of the Ice Cream Sandwich builds decline. The information covers Android devices that visited the Google Play Store over a 7-day period that ended January 8th.

Jelly Bean was the most used build of Android in December

source: Google

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39 Comments

1. hafini_27

Posts: 951; Member since: Oct 31, 2013

Go Android!

posted on Jan 11, 2014, 11:46 PM 8

3. xperiaDROID

Posts: 5629; Member since: Mar 08, 2013

Hell yea.

posted on Jan 11, 2014, 11:50 PM 5

2. xperiaDROID

Posts: 5629; Member since: Mar 08, 2013

Android rocks! But I'm curious to know that who's still using Froyo?

posted on Jan 11, 2014, 11:48 PM 13

13. 0

Posts: 242; Member since: Jan 07, 2014

I still have a eclair android 2.1 xperia X8 in my drawer

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 3:27 AM 2

20. ihavenoname

Posts: 1693; Member since: Aug 18, 2013

Maybe some old and ultra low-end devices still use it.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 5:03 AM 1

23. adecvat

Posts: 647; Member since: Nov 15, 2013

ha-ha, that is why Google named 4.1-4.3 "Jelly bean". Now they can told that "Jelly Bean was running 59.1% of Android devices", not mention that Jelly bean is three OS and has several years difference between

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 5:59 AM 3

26. g2a5b0e unregistered

Before you try to troll, be sure you have your information straight otherwise you end up sounding like an idiot. Yes, Jellybean is 3 different OS versions, but there are not several years between them. 4.1: July 2012 4.2: November 2012 4.3: Jul 2013 Perhaps counting isn't your strong point, but I count 1 year between the first & last, not several as you said.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 8:22 AM 11

31. tedkord

Posts: 17414; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

Logic is not your forte. Apple also releases multiple candidates for reach release. I believe they're on the fourth iteration of iOS 7. All are called iOS 7 and counted as such in stats.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 1:20 PM 2

24. fanboy1974

Posts: 1345; Member since: Nov 12, 2011

I consider ourselves to be above average phone consumers. We may look at Froyo and Gingerbread as being old but many people don't care. My female coworker still uses a Verizon flip phone and is paying $100 a month which is hard for me to believe. She could get a prepaid Verizon Moto G for $99 and pay $60 to $70 per month and it would be a massive upgrade for her while saving money. If anyone rocks a flip phone and is still paying high monthly payments you start to get the picture. So many people don't care or have a clue.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 7:03 AM 2

4. zunaidahmed

Posts: 1185; Member since: Dec 24, 2011

Android WILL catch up with ios, but not today nor tomorrow. Android had a major on the 2011 december, which was the release of ice-cream sandwich. That was a year after ios 4(ios major update, june 2010) so it still is a little behind, but thanks to open source and Google's affort, it's gaining fast. I think it will catch up during the release of ios 8 or 9, unless apple does some REALLY super awesome update, but that is not really showing from the change from ios 6 to 7.

posted on Jan 11, 2014, 11:51 PM 0

6. RandomUsername

Posts: 808; Member since: Oct 29, 2013

Android doesn't need to "catch up". Look at this:http://www.phonearena.com/news/New-Android-and-iOS-fragmentation-charts-are-just-as-flawed-as-the-term_id50332

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 12:03 AM 13

7. networkdood

Posts: 6330; Member since: Mar 31, 2010

Apple has plenty of fragmentation - my kids ipods cannot download apps at times due to what they have - but that is just technology - fragmentation has been way overblown - thanks to APPLE and its fanatics...

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 12:07 AM 9

17. zunaidahmed

Posts: 1185; Member since: Dec 24, 2011

where the hell did you get that information from? You CAN download multiple apps the same time an do something else on ios devices, but it could be different is your r mentioning iPod 4th gen, which does not support ios 7, but anything better than iphone 4 can do that.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 4:40 AM 0

19. zunaidahmed

Posts: 1185; Member since: Dec 24, 2011

Apologizes if I misunderstood your comment in the first place, sorry in advanced

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 4:47 AM 0

15. WHoyton1

Posts: 1635; Member since: Feb 21, 2013

Just admit it you don't know what your talking about!

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 4:24 AM 2

18. zunaidahmed

Posts: 1185; Member since: Dec 24, 2011

What do you mean? I am referring not just to the os, but the whole eco system, including apps, which android still needs to work on.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 4:42 AM 0

37. fireblade

Posts: 717; Member since: Dec 27, 2013

Are you drunk? iOS doesn't even have widgets. And the notification center in iOS 7 is copied from android. Have you ever seen android in smart TV, NASA satelite, car entertainment system, and even oven? That's the beauty of android.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 7:04 PM 1

5. tricky

Posts: 34; Member since: Dec 18, 2013

Its sad how a bunch of developers and hackers at XDA can get the latest version running in a matter of weeks to couple months, but billion dollar companies take forever to update.

posted on Jan 11, 2014, 11:55 PM 0

8. networkdood

Posts: 6330; Member since: Mar 31, 2010

Well, they have steps to go through...lol - I have used XDA for 6 years now...love the site...

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 12:08 AM 1

10. clarkjeferson

Posts: 67; Member since: Dec 22, 2013

It's all about the skins, not to mention the "HTC update flowchart" I've seen once. That's why they take close to forever to update them phones, regardless of the manufacturer.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 12:52 AM 2

22. blingblingthing

Posts: 977; Member since: Oct 23, 2012

I've had four android phones. The only reason I haven't rooted the latest (LG G2) is because it's only a week. It is true that xda has later versions of android on devices first, but it isn't as stable as OEM's updates. And plus xda versions don't have the manufacturer over lay. That is what makes then update that quick.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 5:35 AM 0

30. Berzerk000

Posts: 4275; Member since: Jun 26, 2011

Those developers and hackers don't have to go through any certification to hand out software.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 11:14 AM 0

34. Finalflash

Posts: 4063; Member since: Jul 23, 2013

Believe it or not, it is actually the retarded carriers that hold it back. I remember in my S3 days, my friend who got his S3 from Saudi got his update to Jelly bean almost a year before I did on my Canadian S3.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 2:20 PM 0

9. mr.techdude

Posts: 571; Member since: Nov 19, 2012

Xda is the answer to get rid of fragmentation

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 12:17 AM 0

27. AliNSiddiqui

Posts: 382; Member since: Sep 19, 2012

Not for all devices.

posted on Jan 12, 2014, 8:26 AM 0

11. Sniggly

Posts: 7305; Member since: Dec 05, 2009

There's something to be said for the longevity of Gingerbread devices, since four years after it was released it's still on one out of five Android devices hitting the Play Store. A study said that there should have been about 800 million active Android devices by the end of December. Taking that number and applying it to the 1.4 percent of Kitkat devices means that there are conceivably up to 11 million devices running Kitkat. Considering that Nexus and Motorola devices are pretty much the only ones that have Kitkat yet, this is potentially very exciting.