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Android Google Operating Systems

Android 13 Is Running On 5.2% of All Devices Five Months After Launch (9to5google.com) 77

Posted by BeauHD from the better-than-it-sounds dept.
According to the latest official Android distribution numbers from Google, Android 13 is running on 5.2% of all devices less than six months after launch. 9to5Google reports: According to Android Studio, devices running Android 13 now account for 5.2% of all devices. Meanwhile Android 12 and 12L now account for 18.9% of the total, a significant increase from August's 13.5% figure. Notably, while Google's chart does include details about Android 13, it doesn't make a distinction between Android 12 and 12L. Looking at the older versions, we see that usage of Android Oreo has finally dropped below 10%, with similar drops in percentage down the line. Android Jelly Bean, which previously weighed in at 0.3%, is no longer listed, while KitKat has dropped from 0.9% to 0.7%. Android 13's 5.2% distribution number "is better than it sounds," writes Ryan Whitwam via ExtremeTech: These numbers show an accelerating pickup for Google's new platform versions. If you look back at stats from the era of Android KitKat and Lollipop, the latest version would only have a fraction of this usage share after half a year. That's because the only phones running the new software would be Google's Nexus phones, plus maybe one or two new devices from OEMs that worked with Google to deploy the latest software as a marketing gimmick.

The improvements are thanks largely to structural changes in how Android is developed and deployed. For example, Project Treble was launched in 2017 to re-architect the platform, separating the OS framework from the low-level vendor code. This made it easier to update devices without waiting on vendors to provide updated drivers. We saw evidence of improvement that very year, and it's gotten better ever since.
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Android 13 Is Running On 5.2% of All Devices Five Months After Launch More

Android 13 Is Running On 5.2% of All Devices Five Months After Launch

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  • LineageOS for microG 20.0 isn't out yet.

    • Better not look at iOS adoption stats. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Sundar Pichai would be sure to shit in his turban if he did.

    • Re:Not my fault (Score:4, Interesting)

      by caseih ( 160668 ) on Thursday January 19, 2023 @08:57PM (#63223660)

      Been using a nightly of LineageOS 20 and it's been pretty good. Hopefully there's a way to update to the release when it happens.

      All I can say about Android 13 is that Material You is not very pretty. Only pastel colors, low contrast. While it's a nice theory that it can pick colors from your wallpaper, the reality is a lot of people put pictures of their significant other or family on the wallpaper. Why would I want that to dictate my UI colors? My background caused it to choose baby blue and pink as the main colors. That might work for some but I'm not a fan. There are manual "basic colors" you can choose from, but they are all pastel and muted. Not cool. I installed Repainter and that kind of helps, but whatever color you choose, Android insists on using pastel shades of it. I finally chose "white" which made most things shades of grey which is tolerable. Thank goodness they don't force app icons to theme yet. That would be ugly.

      I much prefer the older Material Design. Maybe someone will do a spin of LineageOS that lets you set each of the colors independently and to exactly what you want, the design intent of the color experts at Google notwithstanding.

    • My OnePlus 5T already has lineageos 20 ;P (the changes in UI from 19/12L are tiny)
  • The graph shows that "R" is the most commonly used version with 24.4% usage, followed by "Q" with 19.5%.
    Meanwhile, "Kitkats" are the least, with just 0.7%.
    What is "R" and "Q"? How does it compare with "Kitkats"?
    Are people expected to know which dessert corresponds to which version numbers? No common sense here.
    If I'm running Android 10, where do I fall on the chart?

    • Re:The graph is deficient (Score:4)

      by Mononymous ( 6156676 ) on Thursday January 19, 2023 @08:26PM (#63223610)

      Are people expected to know which dessert corresponds to which version numbers?

      Yes.

      No common sense here.

      True.

      If I'm running Android 10, where do I fall on the chart?

      Q.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by NFN_NLN ( 633283 )

      Android 1.0 — 1
      Android 1.1 Petit Four 1.1
      Android Cupcake Cupcake 1.5
      Android Donut Donut 1.6
      Android Eclair Eclair 2,2.0.1,2.1
      Android Froyo Froyo 2.2 – 2.2.3
      Android Gingerbread Gingerbread 2.3 – 2.3.2, 2.3.3 – 2.3.7
      Android Honeycomb Honeycomb 3, 3.1, 3.2 – 3.2.6
      Android Ice Cream Sandwich Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 – 4.0.2,4.0.3 – 4.0.4
      Android Jelly Bean Jelly Bean 4.1 – 4.1.2,4.2 – 4.2.2,4.3 – 4

  • Well yeah (Score:4, Informative)

    by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday January 19, 2023 @08:36PM (#63223634)

    Unless you buy a $1k flagship phone, you're not getting any OS updates. Meanwhile my iPhone 8 from 2017 is running the latest iOS.

    • Unless you buy a $1k flagship phone, you're not getting any OS updates. Meanwhile my iPhone 8 from 2017 is running the latest iOS.

      My Pixel 5a was $450 in Sept 2021 and gets OS updates -- shipped with Android 11 and is now running Android 13. Granted, it won't get OS updates as long as Apple products will (at this time anyway).

      • Pixels get Lineage support forever though, so maybe. That's clearly not for everyone, but the average slashdotter should have no troubles.

        • Pixels get Lineage support forever though ...

          Good to know, thanks.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by caseih ( 160668 )

            I'm not sure that's accurate. They do get support longer than most phones, though, because they are relatively easy to unlock and install firmware on. Don't expect the older Pixels to remain supported much past LineageOS 20, however. The newer phones based on Google's own chips may be supported longer.

            I just bought a refurbished Pixel 4a for a good price and quite like it except for the Material You UX garbage. The phone runs quite smoothly and I'm running LineageOS 20 pre-release on it. It's a nice pho

            • Well, that was the figurative "forever."

              But the nexus 5 just recently lost official Lineage support, and it was released in 2013. I still get security updates on my nexus 4 from the community (although also unofficial). No pixel has yet been dropped from official.

              I had a ZTE Axon 7, still nice hardware when I gave it up for my daily, but community support trailed off last year after about 6 years total and only 4 years official support.

      • Unless you buy a $1k flagship phone, you're not getting any OS updates. Meanwhile my iPhone 8 from 2017 is running the latest iOS.

        My Pixel 5a was $450 in Sept 2021 and gets OS updates -- shipped with Android 11 and is now running Android 13. Granted, it won't get OS updates as long as Apple products will (at this time anyway).

        The 5 and 5a were the last Pixels shipped with Qualcomm chips, which greatly limited Google's ability to support them beyond three years. Starting with the 6, Pixels are now running on Google silicon and get five years of guaranteed support. That's not as long as Apple devices get in practice, but actually far longer than Apple guarantees support, because Apple doesn't give a support commitment.

        As Google gets more experience with long-term support, I expect the support term to increase.

        • Point of clarification: the Pixel 6 and above get 5 years of security updates, but still only 3 years of Android software updates. Don’t get me wrong, that’s an awesome improvement and is worthy of being celebrated (plus, frankly, the latest software updates may not run well on older phones anyway), but I feel like you danced a bit around an important distinction.

          https://support.google.com/pix... [google.com]

          • Point of clarification: the Pixel 6 and above get 5 years of security updates, but still only 3 years of Android software updates.

            Valid point. I work on security, so that's what I focus on :)

            • Valid point. I work on security, so that's what I focus on :)

              I've picked up on that over the years, given your in-depth knowledge anytime the topic of things like secure enclaves or minor but important distinctions between how Android and iOS encrypt data come up. ;)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by jon3k ( 691256 )
          High end, mainstream Android devices are getting to that point where you are going to get updates as long as the device is reasonably useful. For example, Samsung and OnePlus are doing four years of support now on phones. The problem is buying a mid-range phone and getting two years of updates, or maybe three if you get really lucky. But right now the iPhone 8 will run the latest iPhone operating system and that phone was available in September 2017. iOS 17 won't come out until the end of this year, so

          • The problem is buying a mid-range phone and getting two years of updates, or maybe three if you get really lucky.

            The "a" series of Pixel phones are mid-range and have the same support guarantees.

    • The iPhone 8 had a MSRP of $700 for the base version and $850 for the 256Gb. Adjusted for the crazy inflation we have been experiencing that's $850 and 1,030 in today's dollars.

    • My pixel 6a $299 (black friday) is running android 13.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      My 6 + (v12.5.6) and 4S (v9.3.6) aren't. :P

    • This is just not true. The price of the phone does have an impact on OS updates, but most phones (even those at $200) get updates.

      Now what's true is the lack of guarantees, i.e. when you buy a new phone, you can't choose it because it comes with updates guarantees. I've never seen that written anywhere (e.g. guaranteed update to latest Android for X years). That would probably require some equivalent contract between Google and the vendor, but it would still make for a huge added value. And of course, the

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by r1348 ( 2567295 )

      My Pixel 6a was 400€ last summer.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Does it matter?

      OS updates bring new features. My advice is to never rely on the promise of new features via updates. Buy based on what it supports today.

      There is also the issue of new features slowing devices down, something Apple was criticised for too.

      Security wise it's not an issue, security is handled separately from OS updates now.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Malc ( 1751 )

        I haven't seen an update cause a performance problem for a long time, maybe since my iPhone 4. I do remember with that device a particularly bad experience, but that was rectified with the next .1 release. My iPhone 8 is running just fine. Perhaps devices have become powerful enough that they are less susceptible to poor OS performance. And of course, Apple also restrict certain new features to newer phones - some might say to encourage sales, others because they're protecting the user experience.

        • I haven't seen an update cause a performance problem for a long time, maybe since my iPhone 4.

          In that case I can only assume you always have a current generation device, and are completely clueless about the requirements and capabilities of running an OS on a phone. So clueless in fact you missed actual lawsuits by people who very much have had performance problems on their devices.

    • Lineages.org (and similar Android distributions) fix this

    • Unless you buy a $1k flagship phone, you're not getting any OS updates. Meanwhile my iPhone 8 from 2017 is running the latest iOS.

      My Pixel 4a is still receiving major OS updates and will for a long time. But on top of that, has never been throttled by the manufacturer to force me to buy a new one.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Unless you buy a $1k flagship phone, you're not getting any OS updates. Meanwhile my iPhone 8 from 2017 is running the latest iOS.

      Bought Nokia X10 for £180, gets 2 years of updates and 3 years of security patches.

      Nokia isn't artificially slowing it down and the best part of it is I have a completely unlocked phone I can do what I like with. Also I'm not locked into a single ecosystem that dictates what I am and am not allowed to do.

    • Samsung stepped up on upgrades and updates about a year ago, not just flagship Galaxy S devices but also down to A33 (perhaps even the A23?) get 4 years of OS upgrades plus one additional year of security updates. I think the A33 can be had clearly under USD 300, so your statement is out of date by over a year.
    • Nah. Of course it's not as good as iPhones but Xiaomi just updated my 2019 300€ phone to Android 12. Not 13, but I'm not complaining.
      Yes, Apple is much better supporting iPhones than most Android manufacturers their own phones but I don't care that much. The upside of Android OS updates being slower is that most apps support pretty old versions of Android. So my 2019 phone can realistically expect to run the latest apps at least until 2025-26

  • So, is bragging about [latestOS] statistics artificially padded by sales numbers from all those [latestOS] devices pushed in raging (loss leader?) Christmas sales last month a normal thing, or is this something I merely overlooked every January?

    Just curious.

  • For reference... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anubis IV ( 1279820 ) on Thursday January 19, 2023 @09:06PM (#63223682)

    As a point of reference, iOS 16, the latest major release, had a higher adoption rate in less than 24 hours.

    6.71% in 24 hours [appleinsider.com]

    23% after three weeks [pixalate.com]

    68.95% in three months [9to5mac.com], and only 6.27% on iOS 14 or earlier at that point.

    • Re:For reference... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Dorianny ( 1847922 ) on Thursday January 19, 2023 @09:28PM (#63223718) Journal
      The difference being that Apple doesn't allow other hardware vendors. Googles own Pixel line has similar kind of adoption rates.

    • Apple shoves it down people's throats. Android doesn't, and no one cares. There's no compelling reason to update a mobile OS anymore.

      • "No compelling reason"? It seems at least weekly that I see a news article about some nefarious group exploiting smartphone zerodays in the wild. The NSA will still get into my smartphone if they want to but patching at least keeps the script kiddies out.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Entrope ( 68843 )

          There is very good reason to run a version of your mobile OS that is getting security patches. The major reason to run the very latest major version, rather than version N-1 or N-2 that is still getting security patches, is "ooh shiny".

      • There's no compelling reason to update a mobile OS anymore.
        Well except for keeping up with the latest security patches or major bug fixes, I agree. There hasn't been a new feature or new functionality reason to upgrade my mobile OS or desktop OS in years. In fact, I hate updating or upgrading OS's or applications because the new versions generally are worse than the previous version. The new "improvements" only cause frustration and irritation by the never ending "rearraging of the UI furniture" like chang

        • Well except for keeping up with the latest security patches or major bug fixes, I agree.

          No. Security patches have zero to do with the OS version on Android. Many manufacturers abandon OS upgrades for Android while remaining perfectly current for security updates. My own phone runs Android 11, never got offered an OS upgrade, and none the less is running "December 2022 Security patch level".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        Apple shoves it down people's throats. Android doesn't, and no one cares. There's no compelling reason to update a mobile OS anymore.

        I agree with your first point... but security patches are a good reason to update a mobile OS. They're almost as complex as desktop OS's. If you pick a decent manufacturer, you get regular security updates.

        • Security patches have zero to do with Android OS version, that's an Apple only thing. On Android you run a "Security Patch Level" and that is not related to your OS. My 2 year out of date Android 11 OS is running 1 Nov 2022 Security Patch Level (I mistyped above that it was December, it typically takes a month or two for security updates to roll out).

          In much the same way my Windows 10 version is fully update to date with security patches despite not being Windows 11.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by leptons ( 891340 )
          Upgrading an OS, and deploying security patches are two different things. You don't usually have to update an OS to get security patches.

      • There's no compelling reason to update a mobile OS anymore.

        You may have missed it in the earlier link I posted [pixalate.com] since I didn't call attention to it at the time, but their study indicated that the rate of ad fraud was down 16.6% among users who had updated.

        And for my part, I've actually found recent iOS updates to be fairly compelling. Feel free to laugh if you've been enjoying these for years on your platform of choice, but in the last few months alone I feel like Apple has been on a roll with the ability to finally enable E2E encryption for nearly everything in iCl

  • Seriously, the Android version you are running doesn't matter that much, and really hasn't since Android 4-ish. Nearly any app you want to install will run just fine on your phone or tablet. Sure there have been a lot of under-the-hood improvements and cosmetic changes here and there, but for the most part I bet 95% of the people even on Slashdot can't tell me a single feature that 13 has that 12 didn't have.

    • True, but security updates matter and those get eventually dropped as well after some time. What we need is a way for customers to install the latest android if they want to, just like you can install the latest Windows (and Linux!) on any PC, provided the HW specs match the minimum requirements.

      • This is why I like so much lineageos.org: any supported version brings security updates weekly to users

      • True, but security updates matter

        Security updates are not related to Android version. Most vendors offer security updates long after they stop providing OS updates. I'm currently running Android 11 with "Security Patch Level" 1 Nov 2022.

    • +1 informative

  • The major Android releases are too rapid and don't provide sufficient value. Upgrading is a crapshoot as to whether you will gain or lose functionality or be annoyed by the latest dumbest UX regressions.

    I've never had much luck with LineageOS due to the constant never ending upgrades and abandonment of previous versions and devices. From initial test release to abandonment of previous android version of my current phone was 4 whole months before I was what? Expected to do a major upgrade to get any more

    • UX regressions

      Can you mention some, please

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by udittmer ( 89588 )

      The major Android releases are too rapid

      They happen yearly, just like on iOS, and have approximately the same number of what you call "sufficient value" features.

      • They happen yearly, just like on iOS, and have approximately the same number of what you call "sufficient value" features.

        This isn't a contest between Android and insert competitor here. Yearly major releases is too much churn and too much risk for insufficient commensurate value especially in a mature technology.

        Computers are tools to get shit done not ends on to themselves. The more people have to worry about constant upgrades and associated breakage the less value is derived from the tool.

  • Android's worst feature (Score:4, Insightful)

    by julian67 ( 1022593 ) on Thursday January 19, 2023 @10:51PM (#63223866)

    The lack of updates is Android's worst feature. It's the one aspect of mobile OS where Apple is clearly superior in every way. There are two mainstream Android vendors who do a halfway decent job of updates: Google and Samsung (if you buy a premium model). Every other manufacturer is a fucking disgrace. Sony make maybe the best Android phones but even if you spend $1000s you can just go fuck yourself after 1 upgrade (they will advertise 2 version upgrades but they don't always deliver). You won't even get security patches 18 months after buying. And they are one of the better ones! It really is shit. I've gone back to Samsung. A long time ago I had a Galaxy Note II LTE and while it got just two version upgrades it did get security patches for a full 5 years, right up to 2017, 5 years after it launched. So I sold my beautiful Sony camera after Sony confirmed to me that, 2 years after launch, they would be offering no more updates. I bought a mid-range Galaxy A52S which I know will keep getting upgraded for a few more years and keep getting patched for a couple after that.
    Having also owned Xiaomi, Lenovo and LG I know that other vendors are as crap as Sony, or even worse. Google could fix this tomorrow by requiring manufacturers follow a fixed term upgrade & patch path to qualify for Play store access etc. but they really don't give a fuck. Samsung do the right thing with their mid and top range phones not because it's the right thing but because they pursue the business market and sanity is required. Not one other big player even tries.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Depends who you ask. My wife doesn't install iOS updates because she hates Apple changing the way her devices work.

      She would be much better off on Android, where she would get security updates directly from Google. I have to rely on an isolated WiFi network and PiHole blocking malware domains for her phone and tablet.

    • Security updates on closed source software are too slow maded (and the user must believe that "all are fixed, now", which is probably a lie...)

    • The lack of updates is Android's worst feature.

      Without looking up tell me what feature of Android 13 you desperately are looking forward to. No seriously, you say it's the "worst feature", I challenge you to go to any person you see with an Android phone and get them to tell you a) what OS they are running (most don't have a clue), and what the latest new features are of the OS they are currently running (no one will be able to tell you that).

      Mobile OSes haven't needed updates for compelling features in close to a decade now. This isn't Android 2.4 intr

    • Indeed Samsung is king of Android updates, not only on flagship devices. A nice comparison is here: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/... [makeuseof.com]
      Plus a list here: https://www.androidauthority.c... [androidauthority.com]

      Samsung's official stance: https://news.samsung.com/us/sa... [samsung.com]
      Plus the cadence of security updates: https://security.samsungmobile... [samsungmobile.com]

      I used to check for LineageOS compatibility, but with 5 years of updates, that becomes less important, more likely the phone will be used up by then.

  • They just pushed Android 13 to my Samsung tablet. My phone (also Samsung, newer hardware) is still on Android 12.

    I'm currently doing some Android development at work and the main OS dependency I'm dealing with is how they changed notifications a few versions back. Notification channels and all that.

    ...laura

  • Seriously without looking it up, list the new features in Android 13 below. I challenge you. Secondly tell me which of those features are compelling features that you've been wanting on your device.

    Mobile OSes stopped innovating with killer features nearly a decade ago. Long gone are the days when we were clamouring for multitouch, or NFC support, or a better notification system, or Bluetooth 5 support, etc. etc.
    Long gone are the days where apps came to market using some feature that wasn't available on a p

  • I know a handful of people who refuse to update beyond Android 11 because they dislike the interface changes from Android 12 and beyond. I agree with with for the most part, but I have a newer Pixel, so don' have the option to downgrade.

  • Samsung released the update for my phone, but fucking AT&T has elected to block the update.

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