Google released the latest Android platform distribution numbers today and it would appear that Android Lollipop managed to double it share of the Android platform devices from last month. Android Lollipop came in at around 3.3% which is up from around 1.6% last month. While it is slow, that still accounts for a 100% increase from last month for the latest Android operating system. Android KitKat also increased its numbers, up from 39.7% in February to close out at 40.9% for the beginning of March numbers. The rise of Android KitKat may account for the decrease in numbers of Android Jelly Bean that saw its percentage share of the Android pie drop from 44.5% to around 42.6%.
This accounts for most of the phones and mobile devices that are running Android on the market today. Some devices still use older versions of Android such as Ice Cream Sandwich which saw a decrease from 6.4% to 5.9%. That number is lower than the version before Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread, who is still holding on to around 6.9% of the distribution. While the distant Android 2.2 Froyo is managing to hold on to a mere 0.4%. These numbers, while small, for Lollipop indicate that the operating system is slowly moving forward. This should take off, as carriers have been releasing Android Lollipop to older phones that are already in customers hands such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the LG G3.
All of the major releases from companies such as HTC, Samsung, Sony, and LG this year at Mobile World Congress are set to release Android Lollipop as well, which should give the operating system a huge shot in the arm as more and more consumers purchase these products as they become available for sale in markets around the world. It is important to note that these figures were tabulated during a 7-day period that ended on March, 2 2015 (Feb. 23, 2015 to March 2, 2015). Google gathered the data for these results from the Google Play store app, so any version of Android below 2.2 Froyo can not be accounted for since you must be on Android 2.2 or above to have access. Google also goes on to note that in August of 2013 that devices older than Android 2.2 accounted for about 1% of devices that “checked in” to Google Servers, so you can expect by now that the number is well below 1%. While Android 5.0+ Lollipop may be slow to roll out, we can expect to see these numbers jump in the coming months as smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge as well as the HTC One M9 start to arrive in customers hands.
