It's absolutely crazy! Android 14 is only the fifth most installed version of the Operating System

You might remember those old days when Google would release distribution numbers for Android every month. Surely your brain goes into nostalgia mode when hearing about such Android builds as Froyo and Eclair. Back then, Android distribution was hurt by the same thing that hurts it now, fragmentation. With the iPhone, the same company (which, of course, is Apple) builds the hardware and software making it much easier for the latest update to run on the most recently released iPhone models.

Android, on the other hand, has an almost embarrassing track record of having more phones run on an older Android build one or two generations behind the most recent widespread release. For example, Android 14 is the most recent release of Android disseminated throughout the world starting on October 4th, 2023. In theory, you'd expect to see that version of Android leading the way. Instead, Android 13, released in 2022, was the most used build of Google's open source mobile operating system as of May 1st when it was found on 20.9% of Android devices.

Compare that to the 13% running 2023's Android 14. Actually, more embarrassing than that is the realization that Android 14 wasn't even in second place behind Android 13; that honor went to Android 11 (!) with a 19% slice of the Android Pie as of May 1st. Heck, even Android 10 was installed in more Android devices than Android 14 as 13.6% of Android devices were powered by the 2019 build of Android on May 1st.

So if you're not keeping a running tally, as of May 1st the distribution numbers are as follows:

Android 15 is expected to be released sometime next month around the same time that the Pixel 9 series is released. As usual, the new build will be pre-installed on the new Pixel handsets and users of older Pixel phones will get the first crack at installing it. Just recently Google unveiled what was expected to be the final Android 15 Beta version, Android 15 Beta 4. But an unscheduled follow-up, Android 15 Beta 4.1, was released to Pixel phones to fix an issue with phone call audio that had been bothering Pixel users running the Beta.

Google releases these figures to help app developers know the lowest version of Android that their app should support. The data is based on the number of Android devices powered by each Android build that has connected to the Google Play Store within a seven-day period. The data is available to Android developers from Android Studio. The last release of the Distribution figures came on October 31st, 2023.