Latest Android Platform Stats Show KitKat Up to 8.5%, 2.x Down to 17.2%

Just as hump day has come to be known as Google Update Wednesday, the beginning of every month is when Google updates its Android Platform Stats. This information is of course invaluable to developers looking to better target their applications. And with this knowledge, app devs can then choose where to devote their limited resources.

One month ago, we saw that Android 4.4.x KitKat had finally started to gain some traction. Back then, 4.4.x accounted for a grand total of 5.3% of devices with access to Google Play Services. At the same time, we saw Android 2.x finally fall below 20%, in favor or more recent Android versions.

This past month, the positive trend has continued. KitKat has gone up from 5.3% to 8.5%. All other Android versions, on the other hand, have gone down: Jelly Bean is down to 60.8% from 61.4%, Ice Cream Sandwich is down to 13.4% from 14.3%, and 2.x is down to 17.2% from 18.9%. Diving deeper, one oddity that you may notice is that API 17 (Android 4.2.x) has actually gone up since last month from 18.1% to 18.8%. This, however, is likely due to devices just now receiving updates to API17, as well as devices just now being release that still have 4.2.x installed.

In addition to version stats, the Android Developer Dashboard now also reports information regarding screen size and resolution, as well as max supported OpenGL version. This can be seen below:

It’s nice to see 4.4.x reaching more and more older devices. That said, even 8.5% is still relatively low considering how we are now six months past KitKat’s release. Does Android fragmentation bother you, or have you long since forgotten about OEM updates in favor of custom ROMs? Are you a developer who has to deal with different Android versions? If so, is Gingerbread the bane of your existence? Let us know in the comments below!

[Source: Android Developer Dashboard]

source: xdadevelopers