Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The latest Android 13 distribution numbers show that its growth is outpacing Android 12.
- However, Android 11 still has the biggest piece of the pie, with 23.5% of Android devices on this version.
- Samsung’s robust software support commitments are likely helping a lot with Android adoption.
Years ago, Google used to disclose Android distribution numbers on a regular basis publicly. However, the company stopped the practice and now dishes out updates sporadically on no apparent schedule.
Today, the latest numbers are in (via 9to5Google). What’s most interesting about this new chart is the Android 13 distribution percentage. According to Google’s data, 12.1% of Android devices are on Android 13. This is a huge increase over January 2023 which saw just 5% of devices on the latest stable version of Android.
That jump is much larger than any jump we saw for Android 12. We’ll need to wait for the next set of distribution numbers to know for certain, but it appears Android 13 will beat out Android 12’s success — and do so in less time.
Android 13 distribution numbers
While the charts above paint good news for Android 13, it tells the same old story for Android’s overall fragmentation. Over 23% of Android devices are on Android 11, representing the largest piece of the pie. Even Android 10 is still hugely prevalent, with 18.5% of the overall distribution.
Unfortunately, this is just par for the course for Android. With so many OEMs, so many phones, and historically poor update commitments, millions of Android devices languish on outdated (and unsafe) versions of the operating system.
Android 13’s success, though, is likely due to a few major OEMs trying to turn things around. Lead by Samsung — the OEM with the best software commitment in the industry by far — we’ve seen upgraded commitments from OnePlus, OPPO, and even Google itself, which only committed to five years of security patches for the first time in 2021.
