Android fragmentation a thing of the past: Gingerbread OS runs 73 percent of Android devices

Analytics firm Localytics released a study today depicting Android fragmentation as a not-so serious issue in recent times.

Fragmentation is the inability to develop an application against a singular reference and achieve its intended behavior throughout all devices or operating systems suitable for the application. Localytics pinpointed Android’s succession to a couple operating systems, screen sizes, and display resolutions as the primary factors contributing to the removal of fragmentation among handheld devices and tablets…

According to the research, 73 percent of Android devices run on the Gingerbread OS or an Android 2.3 variant. Froyo, also known as Android 2.2, gobbles another large slice of the pie with 23 percent. Meanwhile, 61 percent of Android devices have 4-or 4.3-inch screens, with 62 percent of Android displays sporting an 800-by-480 resolution. The higher 960-by-540 resolution only maintains a meager 6 percent of screens.

Tablets also observe less fragmentation with 7-inch slates at 1024-by-600 resolution swallowing a whopping 74 percent, while 10-inch tablets at 1280-by-800 resolution sit at 24 percent. Gingerbread also runs 71 percent of Android tablets, which are led by Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.

“In all, while Android developers do have to think about an element of fragmentation foreign to iOS developers, the problem seems to be much smaller than made out to be. Android devices, particularly tablets, tend to be very similar in OS version, screen size and screen resolution,” reported Localytics. “Although iOS developers only have two form factors to craft their applications for, the similarities of Android’s most-used devices should make it less of a challenge to develop for than often thought.”

Google’s Android OS and device statistics published Jan. 3 support Localytics’ research.

Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, who spoke during Cnet’s “The Next Big Thing in CE” event at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show last month, further denied Android fragmentation, and said Google’s main objective is to get everybody using the latest Android OS— Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.