September Android distribution numbers show Lollipop passing 20% as Marshmallow release nears

Every month, Google updates its Android developers website with some data on the state of Android version distribution. Last month, Lollipop was creeping up to being installed on 20% of Android phones, a milestone that has now been reached. Amazingly, KitKat, version 4.4 of Android released almost two years ago, is still in the lead with an almost 40% majority as of September’s numbers…

Alongside KitKat’s huge 40% share of the ecosystem, Android Jelly Bean also holds a very large stake of the market. Combining the three minor revisions of Jelly Bean makes up more than 30%, while the much-older Ice Cream Sandwich, Gingerbread, and Froyo still total almost 10%. The most notable number here is Lollipop, which comes in at exactly 21% of devices running the new Google Play Store app.

And Lollipop is definitely the most notable number here. While Apple has managed to get the latest version of its OS on to 87% of devices, Google is still straggling on Lollipop almost a year after its announcement. Android Marshmallow, the next major version of Google’s mobile OS, is set to be launched later this month, and it doesn’t look like it will have much success in gaining adoption either.