Poll of the week: which Android version runs on your phone?
And the results from last week's poll are in. And it seems most of the NextPit Community are in a much better state than the average Android user when it comes to the operating system version. But a different picture emerges when we analyze the security patch installed, as we will check below.
Most users are using supported versions
In this case, a supported version is one for which Google is still distributing security patches for - which are not necessarily being shared by the manufacturers, but well... - with 95% of the users in the International Community running Android 9 or newer, 90% in the German website and 78% in the French domain.
As a reference point, 69% of the overall Android devices are running version 9 (Pie) or newer, according to Google's numbers. It is also rather surprising the percentage of Android 12 devices, with 20%, 36%, and 13% in the English, German and French websites, respectively.
Considering the fact that not only Pixel smartphones are running the latest OS version, but also Samsung's Galaxy S21 and Z Fold/Flip 3 models, besides the wide range of devices that took part in the beta phase, there is some hope that brands are getting better at updating their devices.
Security patches may be a cause for concern
While the OS version situation looks reasonably good, the same cannot be said about the monthly security fixes made available by Google to the manufacturers. A surprisingly large number of users are running devices with the September patch or older — 41% on the English website, 19% in the German one, and 58% on the French site.
Apart from the German domain, the current status is noticeably worse than six months ago, when 18% and 26% of the readers in the English and French domains had a security update older than 3 months.
In practical terms, that leaves users vulnerable to known security risks, making it more worrisome than having an old Android version installed.
Apple still shines when it comes to version updates
On the other side of the OS fence, iOS 15 is already the version running on most devices in the NextPit Community. Almost 75% of the German users are using the latest version on their iPhones, while in the English and French language communities the percentage is around 50%.
Curiously, iOS 15 is compatible with all the same devices iOS 14 ran on, so the percentages for the previous version - 38% on .COM, 17% on .FR, and 4% on .DE - may be showing some reluctance in updating to the latest version.
Again, thanks to everyone who answered this week's poll. We meet again on Friday for another round of questions. Feel free to add your opinions in the comments section!
Original article
After the release and start of the distribution of the annual updates for Android and iOS, it's time to ask the NextPit community which version currently runs on your phone. Welcome to this week's poll.
Both Android 12 and iOS 15 bring a host of new features to compatible devices, including improved app permissions controls, enhanced privacy options, and, of course, new features.
- Android 12 released! Meet the main functions and new features
- iOS 15: All features and everything you need to know
After Google's disclosure on the usage share of the latest Android versions, showing that Android 10 was the most used edition in the world in November 2021, we got curious. Is the distribution of versions among members of the NextPit Community different from the numbers released by Google?
Perhaps more important than the system version are the security patches, with the various manufacturers adopting different strategies even within their portfolios — my 2018 flagship, for example, stopped at the August 2021 security patch — we wanted to compare the current situation with a similar poll from six months ago:
And among Apple-fans?
Not to leave out the iPhone owners in the audience, we also need to ask what the share of different iOS versions is among iPhones in the community. Apple's most recent figures are from June 2021, before the release of iOS 15, and showed that iOS 14 was already running on 85% of iPhones in use at the App Store. But what about among the NextPit Community?
Well, that's it for this week's poll. Thanks in advance to all participants and comments and see you next Monday when we'll analyze the answers. See you then!
