For the first time more Android smartphones and tablets are using Gingerbread (44.4%) than are using Froyo, which has declined from 51.2% to 40.7% over the past two months.

Since September when we reported Froyo still dominates in Android market  there has been a considerable shift in Android platform distribution figures and a milestone has been passed. For the first time more Android smartphones and tablets are using Gingerbread (44.4%) than are using Froyo.

Comparing the latest figures with those published two months ago, Android 2.3.3+ (API level 10) has increased its share from  30.7 to 43.9% while that of Android 2,2 (API level 8) has decreased from  51.2% to 40.7%.  Older versions of the platform continue to decline, as is only to be expected.

The fact that Froyo is no longer being shipped with new devices from the major Android OEMs should further accelerate the adoption of Gingerbread before it is phased out by Ice Cream Sandwich.

Honeycomb, which still has a paltry 1.9% share of the fragmented platform, up from just 1.4% in September is also unlikely to see much further growth now that Ice Cream Sandwich has been released.

See also:

Froyo still dominates in Android market

Android 2.x has over 90% share

Android apps on the rise

The remarkable spread of Android

Android Apps Marketing (book review)

Introduction to Android 2 application development

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