Android version 5.0, and 5.1, marketed as Lollipop — is finally the most used version of the OS, Google revealed in a blog post. Android Lollipop is used by about 36.1 percent of the devices where as its predecessor, Android KitKat comes in the second spot with 34.3 percent.
It has been close to a year and four months since the version 5.0 of Android was released into the market. Google Nexus 9 was the first device to run on Android Lollipop when the device was launched in November 2014.
While Lollipop is still the most popular, its successor the Marshmallow has not tickled the taste buds of the users like Lollipop. Marshmallow is currently used by just 2.3 percent of users who own an Android smartphone. Unlike Apple users who can update their iOS to current version, Google only allows certain devices like Nexus and Andiod One smartphones the privilege of updating the OS to the latest version for a long time.
This means that many older devices still run Andiod Froyo or lesser versions. Marshmallow might still need some time before it catches on and increases in popularity. As newer smartphone devices are set for a launch in the coming months, especially Samsung’s Galaxy S7, LG’s G5 and Xiaomi’s Mi 5, the latest version of Android might finally see a rise in market share.
One evident (and commonly known) trend in the statics released by Google is that the latest version of Android is never the popular for the given time. An older version has always reined supreme over the latest version. Only when a newer version is launched its predecessor takes over its own predecessor.
Even though Google keeps coming up with one new version after the other within a short span of time, the older versions — like for instance Froyo — continue to command some market share. Froyo in our example, still has a market share of 0.1 percent. Gingerbread accounts for 2.6 percent of the devices, Ice Cream Sandwich at 2.3 percent and Jelly Bean 19.1 percent of devices.
The only miss out in the list is Android Honeycomb, the version 3.0 of the OS, which was left out as it has a market share of less than 0.1 percent. Google has also left out versions older than Froyo and those few devices which do not have Google Play installed.
