Android Jelly Bean now on over 52% of devices

Even as some users wait for the official Android 4.4 KitKat update, Google has released its latest platform numbers for the month ending November 1. According to the figures, Jelly Bean versions of the OS now power more than half the active Android devices in the world.

Android 4.1.x Jelly Bean has the highest share of all Jelly Bean versions with a total of 37.3 per cent of devices, while 4.2.x is running on 12.5 per cent of all devices. The latest Jelly Bean build, Android 4.3 and further versions, run on a mere 2.3 per cent of devices. Considering the minor UI changes in most of these updates - especially from 4.2 to 4.3 - that smaller number is not too problematic for Google yet. As more and more companies start rolling out the Android 4.3 update, we will see that particular number go up. So in essence, Jelly Bean has a 52.1 per cent chunk of all devices.

The official pie!

There’s naturally no mention of Android 4.4 KitKat in the numbers, but next month’s figures will give us an idea and could also hint at the number of Nexus 5 devices that have been sold in the first month. Considering that KitKat is said to be optimised for low-end devices, we might see a bigger surge next month than in the past versions.

Among the older versions of Android, Gingerbread still commands a sizeable 26.3 per cent of all devices, while Ice Cream Sandwich has a 19.8 per cent share. Android 2.2 Froyo beats out Honeycomb with a 1.7 per cent share as compared to Android 3.0’s 0.1 per cent.

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