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KitKat continues to chip away at Jelly Bean as Android distribution shifts yet again

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 8:54PM EST
Android KitKat Numbers

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On Monday, Google released the latest data detailing Android platform distribution for the 7-day period ending on December 1st. For the first time in 2014, the three versions of Jelly Bean have fallen below 50% distribution as KitKat continues its steady ascent — 30.2% in November to 33.9% in December.

LAST TIME: With Lollipop incoming, KitKat is now on almost a third of Android devices

Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread have dropped slightly as well, coming in at 7.8% and 9.1%, respectively.

It’s a good sign that Android users are still steadily moving toward the latest software, but fragmentation isn’t coming to an end any time soon, especially with Android 5.0 on the way.

Interestingly, despite the rollout of Lollipop picking up steam near the end of November, Google has yet to include Android 5.0 in its distribution statistics. At this point, Lollipop is only available on a few select flagship devices, but it’s hard to believe the latest version of Android has yet to cross the 0.5% threshold in order to be included in the distribution update.

Many Android device makers have pledged to have Android 5.0 up and running on their phones and tablets faster than any previous upgrade, but the proliferation of Lollipop is going to have to wait until 2015.

Google’s chart for Android distribution recorded during the last week of December follows below.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.