Android 4.4 KitKat Install Base Grows To 5.3%

In the past we have seen arguments made against the Android platform, claiming that it was fragmented due to OEMs pushing out updates at irregular intervals. This combined with carriers requiring approval has caused some phones to remain on older builds of Android while the same model in another country could have been updated weeks ago.

Things are slowly starting to change and fragmentation has become less of an issue these days, and according to the latest Android numbers released by Google, it seems that Android 4.x is now installed on over 80% of Android devices to date. In terms of Android 4.4 KitKat, that number is still relatively low at 5.3% but it is still growing.

At the moment the Android version with the most installs is Android 4.1.x Jelly Bean at 34.4%, following Android 4.2.x Jelly Bean with 18.1%. Interestingly enough the next Jelly Bean build, Android 4.3, is taking a backseat to Android 2.3.3-2.3.7 Gingerbread and Android 4.0.3-4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, both of whom have about 17.8% and 14.3% of the install base respectively.

It’s actually interesting that Gingerbread is still pretty dominant given that it was released back in 2010, meaning that four years down the road, there are still devices that are running on it. It is possible that these devices are older devices that have not been updated either because their hardware can’t support it, or if its users can’t be bothered.

In any case things are looking good for Android as KitKat installations have doubled from last month, but like we said, it’s still a relatively low number, but at the rate it is growing, perhaps next month we will be able to look forward to an even higher install base.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Android, Google