The challenges of Android fragmentation, for developers and users, are hardly improving, with one-third of devices still running a version of the OS which is at least two years old.
According to new analysis by OpenSignal, fragmentation has tripled since the same report a year ago. Out of 682,000 devices surveyed, 34.1% were running Android 2.3.3-2.3.7 (Gingerbread), which is well over two years old. By contrast, Apple has 95% of its device base updated to the latest version of its OS, iOS 6.
Of course, Apple has a far simpler task ‘ only two new devices per year (one iPhone and one iPad) and tight control over its ecosystem, while Google has to deal with huge numbers of products made by scores of vendors, not to mention varying upgrade policies implemented by operators.
However, actions like Samsung’s shipping of its Galaxy S4 powerhouse with the latest Android release are helping to accelerate and streamline the process of getting new OS releases out there. Indeed, 37.9% of the devices studied by Open Signal were running the latest version, Jelly Bean, and that accounts for the highest percentage of the total base. Most of them (32.3%) are, however, still running Android 4.1, rather than the newer update, 4.2.