Android 13 Reaches Five Percent Of Android Devices In Five Months
The Big Picture: Android 13 makes its debut on the distribution chart this month. While Google has made it a bit difficult to track changes in version market share in recent years, its latest operating system seems to be off to a good start thanks to its platform partners.
Google's latest chart showing the distribution of Android versions by device is its first since Android launched last August 13. The company's latest mobile operating system is available on more than five percent of Android phones. Version 12 has increased its share over the past five months.
First, Google regularly and publicly publishes data that compares the market share of Android versions to let developers know which software version to target. However, from 2010 to 2018, the company restricted this information to its internal development platform, which is not regularly updated. Starting in 2020, 9to5Google receives updates and releases them via AndroidDistribution.io.
It's also worth remembering that, unlike iOS devices, Android phones don't continuously update to new versions after they've been released by Google. Manufacturers like Samsung and Sony update their systems according to their schedule, as reflected in Google's launch data.
When Android 13 launched in August, it was only available for Google Pixel phones. Samsung recently released OneUI 5 based on Android 13. OnePlus, Sony, and other manufacturers also released phones with Android 13 last year, which contributed to the operating system's relatively rapid growth.
Android 12 appeared on Google charts in its last update last August - before the launch of Android 13 - with 13.5% of the total Android market share. Since then, that figure has grown to 18.9%, while Android 11's share has fallen from 27% to 24.4%. Versions 10 and 9 still maintain a significant user base.
Since its 13th debut, the Android team has introduced many features and improvements, with more to come. Controller support for the popular mobile game Backbone One arrived on Android late last year, and Google recently released its first major update to Android Auto. Additionally, Google and Windows are collaborating to extend connectivity between Android and Windows 11.
Qualcomm is also working on a major upgrade to Android. In November, the company introduced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with Wi-Fi 7 support, AI performance enhancements, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, Unreal Engine 5, and more. Qualcomm also introduced satellite service for Android phones to replace Apple's operating system for the iPhone system.
