It has been a few months since Ice Cream Sandwich was launched through the Galaxy Nexus. Many smartphone manufacturers soon after the launch started pushing updates into ICS-capable smartphones and tablets personalized and layered with their own UIs. Companies like Sony Ericsson and Samsung have thus far updated their high-end devices to the latest iteration of Android. However, according to the new stats put up by Google on their developer’s page, ICS still lags way behind when compared to version 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) usage worldwide.
Froyo still keeps growing since many of the budget android phones are being marketed with the older version. Samsung and HTC kept themselves busy last year by updating most of their devices to Gingerbread – which explains the rise in Gingerbread users, putting it way higher than the existing versions.
As of now, Ice Cream Sandwich stands at 7.1 percent, a 2.2% gain in two months mainly because of the updates being pushed to HTC devices, Motorola’s Xoom tablet line and a few other handful devices which finally got their OTA updates after a long wait (like the Galaxy S II). Gingerbread holds a staggering 65% of Android devices, with several sub-versions in use. Froyo is down to 19.1% and 2.1 and older versions are at 6%. ICS’s rise is going to see a major boost in June since best-selling phones like the Galaxy S II and the Droid Razr finally getting global ICS updates.
It has become increasingly important for smartphone companies to push long delayed updates since Google will soon launch the successor to Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean; making the updates rather redundant. According the records of the OpenSignalMaps app, Gingerbread and Froyo held 90% of all Android devices in April but saw a drop of 15% in June because of ICS updates and new ICS-equipped devices. According the developers of the app, having multiple versions and numerous devices has helped Google to reach out to a wider audience with its mobile OS.
This comment was seconded by Google’s VP of Engineering, Any Rubin in his April blog post. He wrote that designing the mobile operating system for so many smartphones and tablets was never envisioned when Android was first conceived and even though the number of Android devices continues to grow; their top concern is to maintain the consistency and experience that the users have grown to love.
