Android stats: smartphones soar and tablets struggle

 

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 7 Sep 2012 at 16:21

Google's own stats have revealed the success Android has had on smartphones, but numbers remain comparatively low on tablets.

In the US, the Kindle Fire has helped Amazon grab more than a fifth of the market, but it runs a specialised Android variant and uses the Amazon app store.

Google has released data for developers, collected from devices visiting the Google Play store, showing that most apps are being downloaded to smartphones, not to 7in or larger tablets.

The vast majority are smartphone-sized devices, with nearly nine out of ten in the "small" or "normal" category, of about 4in and smaller. The "medium" and "large" categories, including 7in and larger tablets, make up the rest.

Google also revealed the pixel density of the displays, showing the majority of devices were 240dpi or more.

Gingerbread, also known as Android 2.3 and released in 2010, remains the most popular version of the OS, with more than half of the market.

The versions that have followed in the past two years have grabbed a quarter of the market. Honeycomb - the first tablet-only OS - has just 2.l%, with Ice Cream Sandwich taking its place on a host of tablets, and gaining a fifth of the market.

The stats also highlight the fragmentation issue faced by Android. While Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich hold the majority of the market, two-and-a-half year old Froyo continues to be popular, with 14%.