The numbers are a little hard to compare with Android 11, but it’s still progress
Fragmentation on Android has always been a problem. With so many devices from so many phone makers, and keeping updates on the shoulders of those phone makers, it’s almost inevitable. It’s gotten better in recent years, but even today, it’s not rare to see Android phones running any version from 12 down to 8. This isn’t true for iPhones as a majority of them are running iOS 15. Still, Android is running its own race and, according to the latest numbers, Android 12 is making decent progress.
We know that because Google released fresh Android platform distribution numbers this week (via 9to5Google). This iteration of the distribution report only began last November and has been updated every 3 months. Previously, Google provided numbers on a monthly basis to a dashboard on the Android Developers website before dropping the ball in 2018, effectively going annually. Of course, the numbers themselves gave Apple plenty of room to bully Google.
In this edition, Android 12 has made its first appearance on the board, calling present on 13.5% of all devices.
By contrast, Android 11 is currently leading the chart with 27% of phones, while Android 10 remains a close second at 18.8%. Nine months ago, Android 11 was deadlocked with 10 last year in terms of market share. Android 11 eventually took over as the leading version in May, but usage numbers remain not too different.
| Android Platform Version | API Level | Disparate Share |
| Android 4.1 Jelly Bean | 16 | 0.1% |
| Android 4.2 Jelly Bean | 17 | 0.2% |
| Android 4.3 Jelly Bean | 18 | <0.1% |
| Android 4.4 KitKat | 19 | 0.9% |
| Android 5.0 Lollipop | 21 | 0.4% |
| Android 5.1 Lollipop | 22 | 2.2% |
| Android 6.0 Marshmallow | 23 | 3.5% |
| Android 7.0 Nougat | 24 | 2.3% |
| Android 7.1 Nougat | 25 | 2.2% |
| Android 8.0 Oreo | 26 | 3.0% |
| Android 8.1 Oreo | 27 | 7.9% |
| Android 9 Pie | 28 | 14.5% |
| Android 10 Q | 29 | 18.8% |
| Android 11 R | 30 | 27.0% |
| Android 12 S | 31 | 13.5% |
Android 12’s market share seems to be growing a bit slower than Android 11’s did, but you could say it’s still an improvement compared to the situation a few years ago, as more people are generally getting new versions quicker. Then again, Android 4.x has an aggregate of 1.2% in this day and age. KitKat recently turned 9 years old and Jelly Bean turned 10.
