As per the sources it was found that in the beginning, Google made this information openly available on the web in the form of a constantly updated pie chart that assigned a percentage to each Android version. This data, on the other hand, worked against Google, as it was used to contrast Apple’s far higher adoption rate for new iOS versions. This chart became less regularly updated over time and was eventually removed.
Google has lately taken a different approach to the Android distribution chart, bringing the data inside Android Studio in a form that indicates what proportion of devices are running a specific version or newer. The chart at Android Studio is now updated every six months to a year, with the most recent version arriving in November and a fresh version releasing on May 9.
Android 11 at the Top
According to the updated 2022 distribution data, smartphones running Android 11 and newer now account for 28.3 percent of the pie, up from 24.2 percent. Given the ubiquity of Samsung smartphones and how the business maintains even its low-cost handsets updated, even up to Android 12, this comes as no surprise.
To match, the percentage of devices still running Android 10 has dropped to 23.9 percent, down from 26.5 percent in November. Each successive version of Android has witnessed a similar drop in utilization, with Jelly Bean now accounting for less than half of one percent of all Android devices.
About the Android 12
The absence of Android 12 data in this chart is most likely due to its intended audience of Android developers. Rather than serving as a guide to which Android APIs your app should target, the Play Store’s minimum API requirements should suffice. The chart in Android Studio is intended to assist developers in determining which Android versions should be supported at all.
By using data, developers can determine how many potential consumers they will lose if they do not support an older Android version. Knowing how many users are running Android 12 or 12L isn’t especially useful for this purpose. Having said that, the data would be extremely interesting to observe, especially since information for Android 12 and 12L would be split due to differing API versions.
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