It’s been just over three months since Google made Android 4.4 KitKat available to the public, but only 1.8 percent of Android-powered devices are running it. Jelly Bean continues to have the largest reach with a 60.7 percent share — up from 60.1 percent in January — while Gingerbread’s share is slowly but surely getting smaller.

Due to the large number of manufacturers involved in the production of Android-powered devices, major updates like KitKat have always been slow to reach large numbers of users. The likes of Samsung, HTC, and Motorola have gotten better at getting updates out quicker, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

That becomes really apparent when you compare the adoption figures to those of iOS. Just over three months after Apple pushed out iOS 7, for example, just under 80 percent of devices were running it. That’s a staggering difference, but of course, there are no middlemen involved like there are with Android.

Nevertheless, KitKat’s figures are certainly going in the right direction, while most of its predecessors are dying out. Back in January, it held just 1.4 percent of the market, and the only version that’s increased its share faster is Jelly Bean. Ice Cream Sandwich, Honeycomb, and Gingerbread all lost users.

KitKat’s figures are likely to rise a little faster in the coming months when we see the latest flagships from companies like Samsung and HTC, which will no doubt come with KitKat pre-installed.

• SourceGoogle