Google has shared the distribution data of different versions of its mobile operating system, Android and for the first time, the most recent version, Android 4.3 also makes its presence felt, albeit on just 1.5 percent of all devices.
Google had unveiled Android 4.3, a new version of Android, in July but it's present on very few devices at this point in time.
According to
distribution data for the Android OS platform, shared by Google for the month of October, Android Jelly Bean (versions 4.1.x, 4.2.x and 4.3) is now the dominant version with an overall share of 48.6 percent, with Android 4.1.x being present on 36.5 percent and Android 4.2.x registering a distribution share of 10.6 percent.
Starting last month, Google stopped including Android 1.6 Donut and Android 2.1 Eclair in the data as it is gathered from the new version of Google Play store app, which supports Android 2.2 and above.
Android 2.2 Froyo's device distribution share was 2.2 percent, a fall of 0.2 points while the share of Gingerbread (Android 2.3.x) was 28.5 percent, compared to 30.7 percent last month. Gingerbread's share reduced by 2.2 points but it still has the second-largest share, making things difficult for developers who've been trying to put Android 4.0 as the threshold. This also implies that a major number of Android users don't get access to the latest version of some apps.
Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich registered a share of 20.6 percent, a decline of 1.1 points.
As we've been pointing out, a number of budget devices are still releasing with Android 2.3 and Android 4.0, with no clear update path.
Google has already announced the next Android version, Android 4.4 KitKat, which is rumoured to be released later this month.
It's worth pointing out that beginning April, the data charts are now based on the data collected from each device when the user visits the Google Play store. Google says this is to make it more accurate and reflect the percentage of users who are actively engaged in the Android and Google Play ecosystem. Prior to this, data was collected when the device simply checked-in to Google servers. The new methodology could exclude some devices that don't come with the Play store, or use the older version of the app, so the data is not 100 percent accurate.