Android KitKat’s Adoption Doubles In A Month, Now Running On 5% Of All Devices
Google’s latest Android Distribution Data now shows KitKat running on more than 5% of devices that run on Android.
The corporate synergy inspired latest Operating Software iteration from Google, the KitKat was found to surge in adoption over the last seven days. The Android distribution data collected during a 7-day period ending on April 1st, 2014 revealed Android KitKat or version 4.4 for the technically inclined, to be running on 5.3% of the total devices in existence today, reported AndroidPolice. Though miniscule in comparison to v 4.1 Jelly Bean, the trend has picked up pace. Just last month, KitKat was found only on 2.2% of total devices. This directly means users have started to readily download and apply the updates to the Android update that Google offers rather too frequently. Mobile news portal Phandroid even took the efforts to summarize the trends found across the various sub-versions that Android currently has: Android versions March –> April
- KitKat: 2.5% –> 5.3% (+ve)
- Jelly Bean: 62% –> 61.4% (–ve)
- Ice Cream Sandwich: 15.2% –> 14.3% (–ve)
- Gingerbread: 19% –> 17.8% (–ve)
It is interesting to note that Jelly Bean is still the most commonly found Android version. In fact there are multiple sub–versions of Jelly Bean, namely 4.1.x, 4.2.x and 4.3, before Google released the big Kit Kat update in November last year. Collectively, the various iterations total about 61.4% of all the Android devices. It is surprising to see that despite a six month time–frame, KitKat still hasn’t been adopted by a much wider demographic. One can justify the Ginger Bread version’s existence to the early editions of smartphones which simply can’t run the later versions, but as for Kit Kat, the company has assured that the OS will run even on mediocre hardware specifications. Owing to the inherent limitation, when it comes to Gingerbread, the only way its numbers will drop is when people replace their ageing devices.
But Kit Kat is a different affair. Perhaps the primary reason for KitKat’s snail pace of adoption is the fact that device makers need to tweak Google’s releases and incorporate the same within their devices. It is a time consuming and cumbersome process. Couple the same with the fact that device makers are keen to release newer devices almost every other day, makes updating process relatively lesser important. Perhaps the manufacturers want users to ditch the slightly older devices and move up to KitKat by buying a spanking new device?
