It’s no secret that Google has struggled to get people to upgrade the software on its phones (but perhaps more accurately, the software on other companies’ phones). It’s one of the most blatant examples of an area that Google and its OEMs are just so far behind, especially compared to the adoption rates of iOS on Apple’s devices. And with every passing month, it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
It’s been about 8 months since its release, and the latest Android distribution numbers reveal that the newest version of Google’s mobile OS, Marshmallow, has just now passed 10% adoption. Google’s most popular version of Android at this point, Lollipop, lost 0.2 percentage points this month and KitKat, which was announced in 2013, still holds more than a 30% share…
As you can see below, Froyo is still barely on the map with 0.1% adoption, Gingerbread is down 0.2 percentage points from last month, Ice Cream Sandwich is down 0.1 percentage points, and Jelly Bean is down about 1%. Perhaps the most unfortunate number is KitKat, but still holding a third of the market makes sense considering the hoards of super-cheap Android phones out there still running 4.4 that OEMs don’t have the resources to update.
This month, Android Marshmallow most notably came to AT&T’s HTC One M8 and M9, as well as Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy S5 and Tab S2. In April, Android 6.0 was released internationally for the Galaxy Note 4, small OEM Nextbit released Android 6.0.1 for the Robin. Hopefully more are coming soon.
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