[nine_k]

Are 8-bit systems still being used for new development?

[nickpsecurity]

There's 8-bit MCU's all over the place. I tried to find some numbers for you with a quick Google. This 2014 Amtel report puts 8-bitters at $6+ billion a year. Even the 4-bitters are still making hundreds of millions a year. I include a bonus link on that if it perplexes you.

http://www.atmel.com/Images/45107A-Choosing-a-MCU-Fredriksen...

http://www.embeddedinsights.com/channels/2010/12/10/consider...

Far as future, Jack Ganssle of The Embedded Muse has a nice assessment of it summarizing various sides:

http://www.ganssle.com/rants/is8bitsdying.htm

[shortsightedsid]

Oh, absolutely. The most familiar to software engineers is the AVR used in Arduino but there are so many 8 Bit micros out there (literally 10's of thousands different device) and new ones are coming out every month. So plenty of new development going on.

[kjs3]

There are a couple of orders of magnitudes more Intel 8051 derivatives out there than there will ever be AVRs, and they still have yearly sales in the 100s of millions.

[jononor]

And how many percent of this is for new development?

[ajb]

There are still 24-bit systems used for new development.

[ruste]

Microcontrollers? Absolutely.