Not long ago, it was a simple task for developers to find up-to-date information about what percentage of Android devices is running each version of the operating system. Now that Google is no longer consistently updating the Android distribution dashboard, we need to turn to… alternative sources, namely Pornhub.
These days, instead of regular, monthly updates, the Android distribution dashboard system has been “under maintenance” and has only seen a single update in 2019, during Google I/O. As that update predates the release of Android 10 by a few months, there’s been no way to know what percentage of devices have gotten the update so far.
Noted by the folks at Android Authority, Pornhub has released their 2019 Year in Review (obviously NSFW), and among the odd statistics showing everything you probably never wanted to know about Pornhub viewers is a section on the devices people use. The first notable statistic shared is that Android usage has decreased while iOS has increased, making iOS the most used mobile operating system for browsing Pornhub.
A little further down, though, you’ll find that Pornhub has also taken up the mantle of delivering an Android distribution chart. Fairly quickly, you’ll note that the stats shown on Pornhub’s chart look nothing like those seen in Google’s official version. The difference is that the official distribution dashboard shows all “active” Android devices, which includes all sorts of oddball Androids like enterprise and industrial devices, kiosks, and digital signage. Pornhub’s chart, as you would expect, only measures those devices that have browsed their site.
Android Pie takes the largest piece of the pie chart, running on 48% of the measured devices. Sadly, this year’s Android 10, referred to in the chart as “Q”, only weighs in at 2% of Pornhub’s Android visitors, or less than half the number of Lollipop-powered Androids still in use.
Android Authority also points out that by comparison to Pornhub’s stats for 2018, Android Pie has seen significantly higher adoption one year post-release than Android Oreo did (48% vs 41%). This further demonstrates the success of Project Treble, Google’s effort, beginning with Oreo, to make Android updates much easier for OEMs to develop and deliver. That said, Android’s distribution is still embarrassing by comparison to Apple’s success in getting September’s iOS 13 update onto 71% of devices.
More on Android:
- [Update: Fix rolling out] Some Android apps suffer data loss after latest Chrome update
- 9to5Google’s Best Android phones of 2019 [Video]
- Google appears to be burying personal results from Search on Android
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