14 DAY TRIAL // Android 2.3 Gingerbread has been around for about one year, and the platform is currently the most used OS version on Android devices out there.
The platform release is now loaded on 55.5 percent of all active Android devices, a recent chart from Google shows. In early December, it was loaded on 50.6 percent of them.
The number is based on data collected during the 14-day period ending on January 3, 2012 and represents devices that have accessed the Android Market in the timeframe.
The Android 2.3 – and Android 2.3.2 platform releases were loaded on 0.6 percent of all active Android devices out there, while Android 2.3.3 - Android 2.3.7 OS flavors were loaded on 54.9 percent of them.
During the past two weeks, devices running under the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system have also started to access the Android Market.
The initial Ice Cream Sandwich OS, along with the version pushed out to Galaxy Nexus, namely Android 4.0 and Android 4.0.2, were loaded on 0.3 percent of active devices. Android 4.0.3, the latest platform flavor, was loaded on 0.3 percent of them.
The Honeycomb OS iteration gained some share on the Android distribution charts, with 3.3 percent of all active Android devices now running under it (0.1 percent powered by Android 3.0; 1.5 percent based on Android 3.1; and 1.7 percent running under Android 3.2).
The new data from Google also shows that Android 2.2 Froyo is now loaded on 30.4 percent of active Android devices, while Android 2.1 Éclair was loaded on 8.5 percent of them.
The older Android 1.5 Cupcake and Android 1.6 Donut platform flavors are present on 0.6 percent and 1.1 percent of devices, respectively. They will certainly disappear from the charts in the coming months.
Android 2.3 Gingerbread took the lead in the Android distribution chart from Froyo only a few months ago, and it is expected to continue to grow for a few months more. However, it will soon start losing ground in front of Ice Cream Sandwich, which is being loaded on newer smartphones and tablet PCs.
