14 DAY TRIAL // Android 4.4 KitKat is slowly making its way onto the smartphone market. If we are to take into consideration the statistics released by Google in the last three months, we could say KitKat’s adoption is not going too well.
Although Google recommended handset makers to try and launch only devices powered by Android 4.4.x KitKat operating system no one seems to listen the search giant’s recommendation.
We reported last month KitKat’s adoption on the market was under 2%, which isn’t that great for an operating system that launched about five months ago.
Google reported only 1.8% of users who visited its Play store were using devices powered by Android 4.4.x KitKat operating system.
The new statistics released by the Mountain View company points to a slight increase in KitKat adoption, but nowhere near what we would have expected after two major telecom trade fairs like Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Mobile World Congress (MWC).
Announcements of new devices powered by Android 4.4.x KitKat devices made at these trade fairs should have driven the adoption of the new operating system to at least 5% until March.
Unfortunately, the numbers confirmed by Google are entirely different and this is mostly due to handset makers not offering KitKat updates to their products.
Only a fraction of the most important brands in the smartphone market announced they would provide their customers with an Android 4.4.x KitKat upgrade. Even so, the promised updates are making their way to customers extremely slow.
As a direct consequence, Google announced that only 2.5% users who visited the Play Store in the last seven days own devices powered by Android 4.4.x KitKat operating system.
This is a small increase from the last month’s 1.8%, and, hopefully, the first sign that KitKat will become the major Android platform in the next couple of months.
Other version of Android also recorded slight increases, such as Android 4.x Jelly Bean which has been confirmed to be used by 62% of Google Play Store visitors. In comparison, last month Jelly Bean was only detected on 60.7% devices that visited the Play Store.
Here are the rest of the Android distribution figures, as published by Google in its monthly dashboard report:
- Android 2.2 Froyo 1.2% - Android 2.3.x Gingerbread - 19.0% - Android 3.2 Honeycomb - 0.1% - Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich - 15.2%
Keep in mind that due to the fact that Google Play Store only supports devices powered by Android 2.2 and up, this statistic does not contain any information on devices running versions lower than 2.2 Froyo.