After going silent for some years, Google is back with its latest Android distribution numbers. They reveal details about the adoption of the various Android OS versions in the market. And as one would expect, the Android fragmentation problem is far from over. Google’s latest Android distribution numbers, available via Android Studio, suggest that the most widely adopted Android version is the one that is two years old. Here are all the details.
Two-Year-Old Android Version Become Widely Adopted
It is revealed that Android 10 (Q) has acquired a 26.5% market share, thus, becoming the most widely used Android version on smartphones right now. Android 11 (R), which is now 14 months old, assumes a 24.2% market share and is termed as the second most adopted Android version.
One thing worth noting is that Android 12, released nearly a month ago, currently hasn’t shown up in the distribution chart. We looked into the Android Studio data and it is less than 1%. For those who don’t know, ever since Google stopped releasing the Android adoption data, it now reveals it on Android Studio. You can download the app, create a new project, and look for the results by selecting the “minimum SDK” options. These options include the various Android versions available.
The third most popular Android version is 9.0 Pie, with a share of 18.2%. This is followed by Android 8.0 Oreo with a share of 13.7% (both Oreo 8.0 and Oreo 8.1), Android 7 Nougat with 6.3%, and Android 6 Marshmallow with 5.1%. Android 5 Lollipop stood with a 3.9% share, Android 4 Kitkat with 1.6%, and Android 4 Jelly Bean with 0.6%.
To recall, the last time Google released the Android distribution numbers was in April 2020. Back then, Android Pie had the largest share of Google’s pie chart. Following this, Android 10 was quick enough to replace Android 9 in July 2020 and attained the milestone of being installed on 100 million devices in just months of this release. This was 28% faster than its predecessor.
If you are figuring out the reason why the official release of the Android Distribution numbers stopped, it was to keep Android away from the bad light and stop it from appearing fragmented.
Since there’s a way of finding out these numbers, we look forward to keeping you updated on how well (or not) Android 12 is being received. Have you switched to Android 12 or are you still on an old version? Let us know in the comments below.
I would rather use my realme 7 without upgrading to android 11 as it has many restrictions on viewing and editing files on internal storage>android>data. Which clearly is a violation. One cannot edit files directly even if you want to from the said path.
Still on android 10. No more updates for my Mi A2. I would like to buy a new phone with android 12 + 5G network support. Being a partially blind user, I prefer stock android OS. It will be great, if someone can suggest one such phone available in India.
My email is mohshihab@gmail .com