According to Google’s latest figures (last updated March 5, 2012), only 1.6% of all the Android devices out on the market right now are running the latest version of the OS, better known as Ice Cream Sandwich. In fact, we’re having a hard time trying to think of which devices are in that tiny 1.6% sliver. There’s the Galaxy Nexus, of course; there’s the Samsung Galaxy S II, though it’s only now starting to receive ICS; and then there’s the ASUS Transformer Prime, which isn’t a smartphone. Is it a bit too early then to start talking about Android 5.0 Jelly Bean? Probably, but let’s do it anyway! According to our favorite Taiwanese rumor site, DigiTimes, Google originally planned to announce and ship Jelly bean in Q2 of this year. That would translate to anytime between the first of April and the last day of June. Now it looks like Jelly Bean has slipped to Q3, which is anytime between July and September.
Why the delay? Something tells us it’s because everyone needs to catch up on releasing Android 4.0 devices first. Also, it’s widely expected that the new iPhone is going to be announced during roughly the same time as the iPhone 4S, meaning October. It doesn’t make sense for Google to show off their cards this summer and then let Apple steal the show a few months later. Now that we think about it, that’s exactly what Google did with ICS. They announced Android 4.0 at Google I/O during the summer, but they waited until October to show it off, along with the first device to be running it, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to predict that Google is going to talk about Jelly Bean at Google I/O this June, but then they’ll keep their mouths shut until the fall when they launch the next Nexus. The bigger question here is who exactly will make the next Nexus? Think it’ll be Samsung again?
