Jelly Bean Reaches Almost Half Of All Android Devices As KitKat Looms

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It has taken almost 16 months, but Google’s current Jelly Bean operating system has now reached almost half of all Android-powered devices. It boasts a bigger share than its predecessor, Ice Cream Sandwich — and Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is the second-most popular version of Android with a 28.5% share of distribution.

With all Jelly Bean versions combined — that’s 4.1.x, 4.2.x, and 4.3 — the platform is now installed on 48.6% of Android-powered smartphones and tablets. 20.6% of devices are still running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, while 28.5% are still running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which was first released in December 2010.

Remarkably, 2.2% of Android-powered devices that checked into Google’s servers when these figures were recorded — during a 7-day period ending on October 2 — were still running Android 2.2 Froyo, which made its public debut more than three years ago in May 2010.

Jelly Bean continues to expand its reach ahead of Android 4.4 KitKat, which will make its public debut later this year. In addition to design and user interface changes, KitKat is expected to bring performance improvements, better security, and lots of fancy new features.

“It’s out goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody,” Google says on its new KitKat webpage.