A month after Google started the distribution of the latest version of the Android operating system, only 0.2 percent of devices are currently running Android 8.1 Oreo, as revealed by the official January 2018 Android distribution numbers which were released by the Mountain View-based search giant on Monday. On the other hand, the volume of devices running Android 8.0 Oreo is recorded at 0.5 percent. Altogether, the portion of devices running either one of the two versions of Oreo is measured at 0.7 percent, a slight increase from the 0.5 percent share recorded in the previous month. The incremental increase can be attributed to the release of new products running Android Oreo as well as the rollout of software packages that upgraded the operating systems of a number of devices.
Meanwhile, increases were also observed in the distribution numbers of both Android 7.0 and 7.1 Nougat. The distribution numbers for Android 7.0 went up from 19.3 percent to 21.1 percent, while Android 7.1 Nougat saw a jump from 4 percent in December to 5.2 percent. Even though it is no longer the latest version of Google’s operating system, there are new handsets that are still shipping with Android Nougat pre-installed, which may further contribute to the increase in its market share.
Android 6.0 Marshmallow is still the most widely adopted version of the OS, even though this variant of Google’s operating system was released back in 2015. As of yesterday, around 28.6 percent of all Android devices were running Android 6.0, a drop of 1.2 percent from the previous month. Meanwhile, the distribution numbers of Android 5.0 and 5.1 Lollipop were measured at 5.7 percent and 19.4 percent, respectively, a decrease from the 6.1 percent and 20.2 percent recorded last month. Android 4.4 KitKat also dropped from 13.4 percent in December 2017 to 12.8 percent in January 2018. Android Jelly Bean also saw slight decreases, with Android 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 all seeing drops of 0.1 percent each compared to the previous month. The distribution numbers for both Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, two of the oldest versions of the Android operating system still supported by Google, stayed mostly the same. Google collected the data on the distribution numbers over a seven-day period ending Monday. Oreo isn’t expected to pick up any pace before spring when major brands like Samsung, Huawei, and LG start releasing new flagships.