Gingerbread Loaded on 63.7% Android Devices, Ice Cream Sandwich on 2.9%

In an attempt to help developers better target their applications at the various flavors of Android out there, Google has released a new distribution chart for its mobile operating system.

Google’s new charts are based on data collected during the past two weeks on devices that have accessed the Google Play Store (former Android Market).

According to this data, 63.7 percent of all handsets / tablets on which the Play Store was accessed run under the Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform. Android 2.3 - Android 2.3.2 accounted for 0.5 percent of devices, while the 2.3.3 - 2.3.7 versions accounted for the rest of 63.2 percent.

When compared to the latest charts that Google released, Gingerbread grew in popularity. In February, it was loaded on 62 percent of all devices accessing said app portal.

Compared to last month, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich experienced growth as well. During the past two weeks, it was loaded on 2.9 percent of all active Android devices (Android 4.0 - Android 4.0.2 on 0.5 percent mobiles, Android 4.0.3 on 2.4 percent), an increase of 1.3 percentage points from February.

Just as expected, older Android platform versions are losing more ground to newer releases, and some of them should become obsolete soon.

We’re referring here to Android 1.5 Cupcake and Android 1.6 Donut, which account for 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent active devices at the moment, down from 0.4 and 0.8 percent last month.

Android 2.1 Éclair went down too, now being present on only 6 percent of devices (from 6.6 percent last month), the same as Android 2.2 Froyo, which accounts at the moment for 23.1 percent share in the Android area (it enjoyed 25.3 percent share last month).

Given the fact that the number of handsets and tablet PCs that run under Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is still reduced, it does not come too much as a surprise that Gingerbread is still gaining ground in Google’s Android distribution charts.

But with new devices set to arrive on shelves soon and with software updates promised for various other smartphones and slates, it should not be too long before things turn around a bit.