All things must come to an end as Google recently announced that Android version 2.3 Gingerbread and version 3.0 Honeycomb support will be phased out in the coming update to Google Play services that will soon launch in 2017. Both version 3.0 and 2.3 are the oldest remaining Android operating systems to date.
Google Play services 10.0.0 and Firebase 10.0.0 are the last patches to support Android API level 9 up to API level 13, according to the official announcement in the Android-Developers blog. The next scheduled release of the new library update, the 10.2.0, is slated to "early 2017." The new 10.2.0 update will upgrade the minimum API level to 14, which is the Android 4.0.1 commonly known as Ice Cream Sandwich.
"The Gingerbread platform is almost six years old. Many Android developers have already discontinued support for Gingerbread in their apps," said from the blog announcement. "This helps them build better apps that make use of the newer capabilities of the Android platform. For us, the situation is the same." The announcement also assured that phasing out Gingerbread and Honeycomb will open opportunities, including a wide array of tools that Android developers can utilize in greater speed.
First released in Dec. 2010, Android Gingerbread is on 1.3 percent of devices with Google Play services. Following Gingerbread is Honeycomb, released in Feb. 2011 which is less than 0.1 percent of the 1.3 percent devices on pair with Android Gingerbread, as reported by Venture Beat.
Gingerbread was known as one of the stalwart versions that Android has ever released. It has been one of the most used version of all time, encompassing even the era of Android Jellybean by being operational still in low-end devices, according to Slash Gear. However, Honeycomb was deemed short-lived after being obscured by Ice Cream Sandwich which was also released in October in the same year. One remarkable highlight from Honeycomb was the introduction of the "Holo" theme.