One positive trend: more users are getting newer versions sooner
Google has been quite sparing with giving out platform version distribution for Android since its last regular dashboard in 2018 — and in the run-up to that one, reporting had become increasingly late. Today seems to be the day, though, when it has decided to put out new numbers.
The report, published in Android Studio, indicates that 14 months after release, Android 11 has garnered a platform share of 24.3%. Android 10 had the largest take with 26.5%. Android 9 Pie took third place at 18.2%. Android 12, just out in October, has yet to record a reading. 9to5Google estimates the data to be about 3 weeks old.
| Android Platform Version | API Level | Disparate Share |
| Android 4.1 Jelly Bean | 16 | 0.2% |
| Android 4.2 Jelly Bean | 17 | 0.3% |
| Android 4.3 Jelly Bean | 18 | 0.1% |
| Android 4.4 KitKat | 19 | 1.4% |
| Android 5.0 Lollipop | 21 | 0.7% |
| Android 5.1 Lollipop | 22 | 3.2% |
| Android 6 Marshmallow | 23 | 5.1% |
| Android 7.0 Nougat | 24 | 3.4% |
| Android 7.1 Nougat | 25 | 2.9% |
| Android 8.0 Oreo | 26 | 4.0% |
| Android 8.1 Oreo | 27 | 9.7% |
| Android 9 Pie | 28 | 18.2% |
| Android 10 Q | 29 | 26.5% |
| Android 11 R | 30 | 24.3% |
The table is shown when developers create a new project in Android Studio and determine which API version to target.
Distribution numbers were last reported in April 2020 (via 9to5Google), May 2019, and October 2018.
The October 2018 report provides a good analog to compare adoption rates for a 14-month old version of Android. Back then, Android 8.0 and 8.1 Oreo had a combined share of 21.5% (14% and 7.5%, respectively) — that reflects a gain of 2.8 percentage points on Android 11’s part with some margin of error attributable to the time of month these data were collected. That said, in 2018, Oreo trailed its predecessor Android 7 and 7.1 Nougat as the most-used version by 6.7% in that reading. In this one, Android 11 only trails Android 10 by just 2.2%.
Google touted Android 11 to be the fastest-adopted version yet, barely beating out Android 10’s trend line. That was only at 2 months post-release, however — third-party OEMs (the largest of them being Samsung) tend to pass along OS upgrades to their most popular devices starting from the third month and those account for the biggest upticks in adoption rates.
It would be nice to see another update to the table either next month or in January to catch that tidal wave for Android 12 in action.
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