Right on schedule, Google has yet again updated their Android version distribution charts.

Immediately one notices that Android 2.1 now controls 53.1% of the Android device population. This is in stark contrast to mid-May; when 2.1 accounted for little over 30% of the operating system distribution. The major changes, summarized below:

  • Android 1.5 and 1.6 have shrunk to a combined 44.8% of the Android population; Android 2.1 and 2.2 devices now represent the majority of the distribution.
  • Android 2.0.1 has all but evaporated in the wild.
  • Android 2.1 is run on 53.1% of Android devices.
  • Android 2.2 adoption hovers around 1.8% (this includes non-standard 2.2 ROM’s that can access the Market)

Fragmentation has long been the buzzword of Android critics and users alike; but it appears that the combined effort to upgrade 1.5 and 1.6 devices to 2.1, in consort with increasing sales of new Android devices worldwide, has provided 2.1 a massive boost in the Android OS share. The limited adoption of 2.2 can be easily explained; the only device to receive an official 2.2 upgrade thus far is the Nexus One, and and that rollout still isn’t complete.

Overall, it appears Google is finally getting a handle on the fragmentation ‘bogeyman’; of course, only time will tell if Gingerbread’s eventual release will start the cycle all over again.

Source: Google

Via: #romainguy