The percentage of Android devices running version 4.0 has more than doubled in the past couple months, but that number still isn’t even 2%.
According to the latest data released by Google, only 1.6% of all Android devices are running the latest version, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich.
And even that segment is already starting to get fragmented, with 0.4% running Ice Cream Sandwich version 4.0 – 4.0.2, and 1.2% running version 4.0.3.
Interestingly, though, the remaining Android users seem to finally be congregating around just one or two different versions. The most popular version of Android is 2.3.3 – 2.3.7, which is the most updated version of Gingerbread. 61.5% of Android devices are running that platform.
Right behind that is Android “Froyo” 2.2, which accounts for 25.3% of all active devices.
Android Honeycomb, version 3.0 – 3.2 which is only used for tablets, has reached a 3.3% adoption rate. Meanwhile, Android 2.1 (Eclair) still handles 6.6% of devices, while Android 1.6 (Donut) and Android 1.5 (Cupcake) each take less than 1% and are continuing to fall off the radar.
In January, it was revealed that only 0.6% of Android devices were running Ice Cream Sandwich, so that number is rising, but it’s rising incredibly slowly.
Ice Cream Sandwich is one of the biggest updates to Android yet, and includes such features as scanning your face to unlock the phone, a much more robust speech-to-text software program, and an entire platform of data sharing that focuses on Near Field Communication (NFC).
NFC so far has been mostly focused on using your phone as a payment device in retail stores, but with Ice Cream Sandwich’s Android Beam, it can also allow users to easily share contact information, Youtube videos, or website addresses simply by waving two phones next to each other.
Several other manufacturers have pledged support for the new update, and a bunch of phones currently running an older version of Android will be eligible to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich beginning in the coming months.
