Android 4.1 Jelly Bean hasn’t been out that long. It was announced at Google I/O 2012 along with its launch device: the Nexus 7 tablet. Shortly thereafter Google’s own Galaxy Nexus started getting the Jelly Bean update, too.
After less than a month, Jelly Bean is already running on 0.8% of Android devices, and Ice Cream Sandwich around 16%. Both numbers are impressive for different reasons. ICS is doing well, with strong growth and a decent percentage to its name. But Jelly Bean, with almost a full percent in less than one month, that’s really great news!
We’ve heard from various manufacturers about their Jelly Bean update schedule. Samsung says their Galaxy S II and Galaxy S III smartphones should get the update in August or September 2012, and some of their tablets shortly thereafter.
HTC has gone on the record saying they have plans to upgrade the One X, One XL, and One S to Jelly Bean “soon”. LG says that “all compatible 2012 handsets” will get Jelly Bean, but they won’t say when. Toshiba says their AT200 and AT300 tablets will get Jelly Bean, but also won’t commit to a time frame.
The only real word we’ve heard about Motorola products is Jelly Bean for the XOOM (which you probably already have). Acer has said some of their tablets will get Jelly Bean, but won’t say which ones, or when.
The Asus Transformer Pad 300, Transformer Pad Infinity, and Transformer Prime tablets should get Jelly Bean “in the coming months”. Their Nexus 7 already has it.
Sony reportedly said their Xperia handsets wouldn’t get Jelly Bean, then changed course and said they would. We’ll see.
Now that we have a pretty good picture of what current hardware will be getting the newest version of Android, where are all the new devices? Why haven’t we seen many new products announced running the latest OS?
Phones and tablets take time to spec, design, build, and release. But just how long? Recently our very own Stephen Schenck revealed a little about the Google/Asus partnership to bring about the Nexus 7 tablet — including the basic timetable. It turns out talks didn’t start until around January 2012. The tablet was announced in June and widely available in July 2012. Rounding up, that’s roughly eight months from first-talks to first purchase.
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean hit the AOSP the second week into July. If we assume all OEMs can build a new device from initial discussions to first delivery in eight months like Asus did, we should start seeing an influx of new Jelly Bean flavored smartphones and tablets in February 2013 — unfortunately that’s well beyond the holiday rush.
There’s my prediction: February 2013. Do you agree? Let me know why or why not in the comments below!
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