Jelly Bean defeats Gingerbread, becomes most popular Android distribution

Jelly Bean is currently the most popular Android distribution, finally surpassing long-time ruler Gingerbread, based on the number of devices visiting Google Play during the 14 days ending July 8.

Jelly Bean (the first and second iteration) accounts for 37.9 percent (32.3 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively) of all Android devices, besting Gingerbread's 34.1 percent distribution level. The latest sweet in the family also outpaced its predecessor, Ice Cream Sandwich, which currently ranks as the third most popular version with 23.3 percent share.

The tablet-only Honeycomb is on its way out of the Android distribution charts, as Google requires any entry to have at least a 0.1 percent level ("Any versions with less than 0.1 percent distribution are not shown"), which Android 3.2 barely managed to reach. It's fair to assume that this condition will not be met in upcoming months.

Combined, Froyo, Eclair and Donut, the oldest sweets in the charts, account for 4.6 percent (3.1 percent, 1.4 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively) distribution level. Donut is likely to drop even further, similar to Honeycomb, and be removed from the charts.

Jelly Bean's current position -- as the most popular Android distribution -- is partly influenced by Google's decision to alter the method of collecting data for its green droid charts, but also by software upgrades from previous versions as well as sales of new devices (like the HTC One, Sony Xperia Z and Samsung Galaxy S4 to name a few) that run Jelly Bean.