Jelly Bean overtakes Gingerbread as most installed Android variant

Android’s latest operating system Jelly Bean has finally dethroned Gingerbread. The ultra-popular Android version 2.3 Gingerbread has lost the title of being the most widely used OS version for the first time ever, according to Google’s monthly Platform Versions update.

Android version 4.1 and 4.2 Jelly Bean now runs on 37.9 percent of all Android devices available in the market. Gingerbread is now just a little behind it at 34.1 percent. Jelly Bean has managed to jump a whopping 4.9 percent up since June, while Gingerbread has fallen 2.4 percent as far as OS shares on Android go.

While we can say Jelly Bean is now ruling the roost, the divide between the two versions is pretty massive too. While Jelly Bean 4.1 forms 32.3 percent of the 37.9, Jelly Bean 4.2, the latest OS version from Google consists of merely 5.6 percent of the share.

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Jelly Bean is finally on top

Android version 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich – the version that got the shortest stick by Google – has continued its downward spiral and has fallen 2.3 percent from 25.6 percent last month to 23.3 percent this month. The version slid past Jelly Bean back in May and has been falling slowly ever since.

Jelly Bean’s growth and Ice Cream Sandwich’s decline can be attributed to the number of handset manufacturers rolling out updates for handsets running Android version 4.0. New devices being activated too mostly run one of the versions of Jelly Bean, helping it stake claim to the biggest portion of the shares this month.

The rest of the versions – Android version 1.6 Donut, version 2.1 Eclair, version 2.2 Froyo and version 3.2 Gingerbread – make up for a measly 4.7 percent of the Android pie when combined.

Google changed the way it collected data related to operating system versions back in April. Previously, the Internet giant would log details as a device logged onto the Google servers. Since April, Google takes into consideration data when you use your device to access Google Play. “We believe the new data more accurately reflects those users who are most engaged in the Android and Google Play ecosystem,” it had said while announcing the change.

(Cover image credit: Getty Images)