Google: there are half a billion Android devices worldwide

Just hours before the new iPhone launch today, Android’s director of product management Hugo Barra took to his Google+ page to announce that there are now 500-million devices running Google’s OS. Nice one.

According to Barra, 1.3-million new Android devices are activated every day. The announcement comes just a week after Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt mentioned at the latest Motorola device launch that there were 480-million Android devices world wide. That’s an extra 20-million new devices (or 2.85-million a day) in just under seven days… and it’s unclear if that was an above-average week or if Schmidt’s stat was a delayed report.

It’s no secret that Android is dominating the smartphone market globally though — from increasing popularity in Europe to emerging markets like Brazil and Indonesia. Samsung’s flagship Android device has already reported some staggering sales figures in the past few months: the Korean company said it had sold 10-million Galaxy S IIIs less than two months after the launch. Just over a month later (100 days after the phone was launched), it hit the 20-million mark.

Despite its popularity, a large percentage of Android devices are still running versions of the operating system that are years out of date. According to Google’s official stats, 53% of devices are still operating on Gingerbread, 20% on Ice Cream Sandwich and just 1.2% of devices are running the latest version of Android (Jelly Bean).