Android 12 now on one of every eight devices

On Android, fragmentation has never been a good thing. It’s practically unavoidable given the sheer number of devices produced by several phone manufacturers and the burden placed on them to maintain upgrades. Although things have improved recently, it’s still common to encounter Android phones running any version from 12 down to 8.

This is untrue for iPhones because most of them are running iOS 15. Nevertheless, Android is pursuing its race, and recent statistics show Android 12 is moving along rather well.

We know this because Google published new Android platform distribution figures this week (via 9to5Google). The distribution report iteration started in November of last year and has been updated every three months since then. Google used to give data on a dashboard on the website for Android developers monthly, but they stopped doing so in 2018; therefore, the data is now only provided once a year. Of course, the figures provided Apple with enough opportunity to intimidate Google.

Android 12 has made its maiden appearance on the board in this edition and is now available on 13.5% of all smartphones.

In comparison, Android 11 presently leads the ranking with 27% of phones, while Android 10 is a distant second at 18.8%. Regarding market share, Android 11 was tied with ten last year nine months ago. Android 11 finally became the most popular version in May, although use figures have remained relatively consistent.