For very long time the most common flavor of Android running on mobile devices was the rather old and outdated Android 2.3 Gingerbread. While there are several newer versions of the Android operating system that had been on the market for a long time, Gingerbread still held the majority of the Android market share. That has finally begun to change.

Recent numbers show that for the first time Android 4.0 and higher is running on more mobile devices than any other version of the Android operating system. We do need to take that with a grain of salt because it takes Android 4.0, 4.1, and 4.2 together to have more of the Android market than Gingerbread alone. According to the numbers, Gingerbread is running on 44.2% of all Android devices on the market.

The numbers also show that 10.7% of all Android devices on the market are actually running a version of Android older than Gingerbread. When you add Android 4.0, 4.1, and 4.2 together, those flavors are running on 45.1% of all active Android devices. Some believe that Android 4.0 will continue to grow rapidly taking as much as half of the Android ecosystem within as little as a month.

If you’re the percentages sort and want to know specifically how much each flavor has of the market, the numbers do break down. Android 3.1 has 0.3% of the market, 3.2 has 0.9% of the market, and Android 1.6 Donut has 0.2% of the market. Eclair holds on with 1.9% of the market, and Froyo has 7.6% of the market. The specific percentages for Ice Cream Sandwich ranging from 4.0.3 through 4.0.4 and up to 28.6% of the market. Android 4.1 has 14.9% while 4.2 has 1.6%. All data was collected during a 14-day period that ended on March 4.

[via Wired]