Google has released a comparison chart of different Android versions. According to it, smartphones running on Android Gingerbread operating system has doubled over the previous fortnight whereas Froyo’s share has gone down.
However, Froyo still enjoys the No 1 status with 59.4 per cent device currently using the Android 2.2 version, whereas two weeks ago its share was 64.6 per cent.
At the time when Froyo’s share of Android devices was dropping, the number of devices running on Gingerbread nearly doubled and it currently stands at 18.6 per cent. The increase in Gingerbread market share includes both Droid X Gingerbread update as well as new phones.
The Android version market share on the chart doesn’t tell the whole story as most of the gains in the Gingerbread share is coming from new phones being released with the new software updates and not because the older devices are getting the Gingerbread update.
Android Eclair remains at the third spot with 17.5 per cent market share, whereas a couple of months ago it was at 27.2 per cent.
While, the Gingerbread share does seem impressive since it first appeared on the scene in December 2010, once those devices which are out in the market with earlier versions also get Gingerbread, its market share will really take off.
The Froyo version of Android was launched in May 2010. The ideal situation would be when all the devices have the latest version of Android, but that seems somewhat unrealistic expectation.
Google Nexus S was the first Gingerbread phone launched by Google itself. The Gingerbread handsets available in India include HTC Sensation, Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC Salsa and HTC Wildfire S.