Last month’s Android distribution numbers showed that Gingerbread was on the way out. Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean still had a bit to go, however, before they were finally able to eclipse the outdated mobile OS. Turns out the Android 4.0 and up club only needed one more month to do so.
In the latest Android distribution numbers, Gingerbread is shown to be at an all time low of 44.2 percent. It’s still higher than the separate distribution percentages of both Ice Cream Sandwhich (28.6 percent) and Jelly Bean (16.5 percent), but they barely best Gingerbread when combined (45.1 percent).
Aside from Gingerbread’s dominance being semi-officially over, it should be noted that this is the second month in a row where Jelly Bean saw the only growth. Ice Cream Sandwich is beginning to decline as more Android 4.0 devices are upgraded to Android 4.1. Android 4.2 also saw a slight bump.
Google is expected to show off the next version of Android at this year’s Google I/O in May. It will be interesting to see what Android distribution looks like before then. Getting more people on Jelly Bean, or at the very least Ice Cream Sandwich, should be a priority for Google before then. Supporting Gingerbread is good for consumers, but it’s not good for the developers straining themselves to support multiple versions of Android.