Which Android version are most phones running, and what an old one costs you

Nearly a third of Android page views from the United Kingdom in August 2026 came from Android 16, and roughly one in thirteen came from a release older than the floor Google states for its own browser. Below is the whole distribution from one named counter, then why the tail exists and what it costs. The blunt part: this counts page views rather than phones, and Google's own device count has not moved since the end of 2025.

Arrived from a platform versions chart posted in March 2011? What that chart showed is the second section. Otherwise start with who did the counting, then why old versions stay and what one costs. Our answer and the table ↓

The shape, and the blind spots

A tall head, a long thin tail. Android 16 takes 29.94 percent alone; 13, 14, 15 and 12 sit almost level behind it. Android 17 reached 3.71 percent two months after release, and that is where this country parts company with the rest: the same counter's worldwide table for August 2026, read 13 September 2026, puts Android 17 on 0.97 percent. The tail is identical though, 28.03 percent here on Android 12 or older against 28.43 worldwide.

The blunt part is what the number is made of. Statcounter's methodology page, read 13 September 2026, describes a code installed on more than 1 million sites globally and says no artificial weightings are used, so a phone switched on but barely used counts for almost nothing. Google counts devices instead, and is nine months behind: the distribution file behind Android Studio's chart stamps every entry Last updated: December 1, 2025, read the same day, and stops at Android 5.0, so Google publishes no share for the 0.23 percent still on Android 4.x above.

The 2011 chart, and the names since

Some readers reach this page from an image file rather than an article. A UK Android news blog hosted a platform versions chart called android-version-2.png in March 2011, and Android Headlines embedded it on 18 March 2011 under the heading What Version of Android are you Running? Probably not 2.3 Gingerbread. That post read the Android Developers dashboard for devices reaching Android Market in the preceding weeks and reported Android 2.2 Froyo on top, 2.3 Gingerbread only starting to arrive on handsets such as the HTC Desire range, 3.0 Honeycomb confined to the one tablet that shipped with it, the Motorola Xoom, and 1.5 Cupcake with 1.6 Donut close to gone. That is history, not a fact of 13 September 2026: the original post was not recovered, and the Android Headlines page returned HTTP 403 to two desktop browser user agents on 13 September 2026.

What replaced it is the table above. Froyo and Gingerbread have no United Kingdom row left at all, the oldest survivor is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on 0.07 percent, and Honeycomb, which never shipped on a phone, appears nowhere. The dessert names ended in public in 2019, which Wikipedia's version history page dates to that August, read 13 September 2026: hence public names down to 9 Pie in the second column and internal ones below, ending at Cinnamon Bun for 17.

Why the tail is 28 percent long

The first reason is how long the maker promised, and the promise is long only on recent phones. Google's Pixel update page, read 13 September 2026, says Pixel 8 and later phones will get updates for 7 years, gives Pixel 6, Pixel 7 and Pixel Fold five, and names the Pixel 5a with 5G and everything older as no longer receiving Android version updates and security updates. Samsung's update scope page, read the same day, matches it: as of January 2024, we are extending our security update support for Samsung Galaxy devices by up to 7 years. Seven years is the promise on a phone bought in 2026. It was not the promise in 2019, and that is most of the tail.

Delivery and price do the rest. The same Pixel page says updates are dependent on carrier and device, which puts the network in the chain on Google's own hardware, and Samsung sorts its range into monthly, quarterly and biannual firmware security updates, the Galaxy S23 to S26 series monthly and the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21 FE and most Galaxy A, M and F models quarterly, so a cheaper phone can be inside its support window and three months behind. No page opened here breaks share down by what the device cost, so no number is put on that. If your phone has already fallen off, our guide to what to do when the updates stop works through the options, and our UK buying guide puts support end dates before prices.

Patches first, then apps

The patch cost can be counted. The September 2026 Android Security Bulletin, published September 8, 2026, says security patch levels of 2026-09-05 or later address all of these issues, read 13 September 2026, and 14 is the lowest number in any of its Updated AOSP versions cells. Against the table above that is 41.38 percent of United Kingdom page views on a version with no AOSP fix that month. One route stays open lower down, because the same bulletin notes that devices with Android 10 and later may receive security updates as well as Google Play system updates, which is why the patch date and the version are separate lines in Settings.

The app cost arrives as a floor. Google's system requirements page for Chrome, read 13 September 2026, is one sentence on it: to use Chrome browser on Android, you'll need: Android 10 or later. Every row below Android 10 above comes to 7.58 percent of page views. Google Play's target API level page, read the same day, pushes from the other end, starting August 31, 2026: new apps and app updates must target Android 16 (API level 36) or higher. That binds the developer rather than your handset, and no Google page opened here says an old phone loses apps because of it, but each new build is written against a newer platform than an old phone runs.

On the phone it shows up as an install that will not start, which our guides to a Play Store that will not work and the alternative app stores cover, and as a reason to read the signs of Android malware before sideloading on an unpatched release. Our guide to updating your Android version gives the Settings path for finding which row you are in. The honest limit: this page describes a population, not your handset.

Checked 13 September 2026: first publication; the table is the Statcounter GlobalStats export for United Kingdom mobile and tablet Android versions, August 2026, taken on 13 September 2026, and its sixteen rows sum to 100.00 percent, so every derived figure here (41.38 unpatched, 28.03 on Android 12 or older, 7.58 below Android 10, 0.23 on Android 4.x) recomputes from it. Withheld, because the changelog is the only place they may be named: per app minimum Android versions, because the United Kingdom Play listings read the same day did not expose that field, leaving Chrome the only app floor quoted; WhatsApp's system requirements page, which returned HTTP 400; and any breakdown of share by device price, which no page opened here publishes. The androiduknewsetc post that hosted android-version-2.png was not recovered and the Android Headlines article that embedded it returned HTTP 403, so its March 2011 figures appear only as history. developer.android.com and source.android.com served their pages only to a plain command line user agent.