It’s that time of the month again, Google has taken stock of all the devices hitting the Google Store and collated the Android version they’re using and supplied some nice data for developers to check. Google supplies this data to help developers choose what versions of Android to target, but really, it’s 4.0 upwards these days to get the best coverage.
The newly launched Marshmallow version of Android has struggled to see significant growth, with mainly Nexus phones and tablets still running the latest version – though phones like the HTC A9 exist, they don’t appear to be in significant numbers. Other than Marshmallow, only Lollipop – both 5.0 and 5.1 versions – saw any growth in market share, with all others losing market share, that is except for Froyo which continues its statistically stubborn 0.2% market share, perhaps we’ll see it disappear one day, but that day won’t be soon given its long history.
As usual, here’s the numbers in an easily digestible table compared to last month:
| Android Version | December | January |
| Android 2.2 (Froyo) | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Android 2.3.3 – 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) | 3.4% | 3.0% |
| Android 4.0.3 – 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) | 2.9% | 2.7% |
| Android 4.1.x (JellyBean) | 10.0% | 9.0% |
| Android 4.2.x (JellyBean) | 13.0% | 12.2% |
| Android 4.3 (JellyBean) | 3.9% | 3.5% |
| Android 4.4 (KitKat) | 36.6% | 36.1% |
| Android 5.0 (Lollipop) | 16.3% | 16.9% |
| Android 5.1 (Lollipop) | 13.2% | 15.7% |
| Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) | 0.5% | 0.7% |
I actually think a monthly report on how the Android distributions gives everyone a good idea where it’s at. And… it’s horrible! Come on vendors… hurry up with the Marshmallow updates!!!
As I’ve said before, this is the silliest thing to report on and I’m a little fed up with it. If it were indeed possible for every Android device to get the latest version of the OS, then this sort of thing would be meaningful. As it is, people buy devices from manufacturers with their own specialised Android version – Not just Android. When you buy a device from Samsung, LG, HTC etc, you’re not buying a device based upon a future version of the manufacturer’s version of the Android OS, you are buying the handset based upon its capabilities… Read more »
66.6% not getting any sort of security/system updates! that’s assuming those on lollipop will still get them but I doubt it