Google has published its latest monthly breakdown of platform usage, showing the proportion of active devices running each version of the Android OS.
The data was collected during a seven-day period ending on June 6, and shows that the latest version of the OS has finally passed the 10% milestone - but it"s certainly taken long enough.
Google began its Android 6.0 Marshmallow rollout eight months ago, but the rate at which that version has reached devices has proved exceptionally slow. But Marshmallow is finally gaining momentum; after last month"s report showed an increase of 2.9 percentage points, Android 6.0 (including version 6.0.1) has made another sizeable gain, increasing by 2.6 percentage points to 10.1% of active Android devices.
Version | Codename | API | Last month | This month | Change |
2.2 | Froyo | 8 | 0.1% | 0.1% | / |
2.3.3 - 2.3.7 | Gingerbread | 10 | 2.2% | 2.0% | -0.2% |
4.0.3 - 4.0.4 | Ice Cream Sandwich | 15 | 2.0% | 1.9% | -0.1% |
4.1.x | Jelly Bean | 16 | 7.2% | 6.8% | -0.4% |
4.2.x | 17 | 10.0% | 9.4% | -0.6% | |
4.3 | 18 | 2.9% | 2.7% | -0.2% | |
4.4 | KitKat | 19 | 32.5% | 31.6% | -0.9% |
5.0 | Lollipop | 21 | 16.2% | 15.4% | -0.8% |
5.1 | 22 | 19.4% | 20.0% | +0.6% | |
6.0 | Marshmallow | 23 | 7.5% | 10.1% | +2.6% |
Android 5.1 Lollipop, which was first released 16 months ago, was the only other version of the OS to increase its share of the platform, rising by 0.6 percentage points to 20.0%. Combined with version 5.0, Lollipop now accounts for a total of 35.4% of active devices.
However, Android 4.4 KitKat - which first made its way to devices two and a half years ago - still has the largest share of any single version, with 31.6%.
While it"s taken eight months for the latest version to reach just over 10% of active Android devices, it"s worth noting that the next major upgrade to the OS is fast approaching. Android N, which Samsung says will be version 7.0, is scheduled to be released this summer - but a recent report suggests that Google may finally be preparing to tackle the issue of manufacturers and carriers dragging their feet in releasing Android updates.
Source: Android Developers