Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich made its official debut with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in October 2011, but most users have not yet upgraded to this version of Android. Even so, adoption seems to be rapidly increasing.

The latest Android distribution numbers have been released by Google and Ice Cream Sandwich now accounts for 15.9 percent of all Android devices. That’s about a 50% increase from the 10.9 percent stake ICS had last month. This big leap can be at least partially attributed to devices like the new Samsung Galaxy S III, which comes with ICS right out of the box. It also helps that the Galaxy Nexus got slashed in price down to $349 unsubsidized too and many major devices from 2011 are finally getting their carrier-pushed ICS updates.

Not surprisingly, Android 2.3 Gingerbread still holds the lion’s share with more than 60 percent of the Android market. It is a little surprising that Android 2.2 is still on 15.5 percent of devices, though I imagine that number is shrinking. The new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean makes its debut at just 0.8 percent, which is likely almost entirely from the Nexus 7 tablet.

Given the timeline, we should probably expect the next Nexus smartphone to launch in the fall. Since the Nexus 7 debuted Jelly Bean, though, it’s unclear whether we’ll see an Android 4.2 make its debut with the new device.

Via Phandroid