14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just released the monthly Android distribution numbers and, at first glance, it looks like Marshmallow will remain the most used version of the OS for a few more months.
Since its launch back in October, Android Nougat struggled to arrive on more devices. For some reason, Google's partners are unable to provide customers with quick Nougat updates, not to mention that there haven't been too many Nougat-based smartphones launched in the last couple of months.
As a result, Android Nougat market share now sits at 2.8 percent, far inferior to the previous version of the operating system, Marshmallow. If we follow the same pattern, Android Nougat could be the most popular version of the OS on the market in about a year from now.
As of right now, Android 6.0 Marshmallow remains the king of all other versions of the OS with a 31.3 percent market share. Next in line, Android 5.1 Lollipop accounts for 23.1 percent market share, followed closely by Android 4.4 KitKat with 20.8 percent.
Android Nougat's ascension is slow and painful
Android 5.0 Lollipop still runs on 9.4 percent of devices, while Android Jelly Bean (4.1.x, 4.2.x, and 4.3) accounts for 10.6 percent. Both Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread come last, each with 1 percent of market share.
It's worth mentioning that Android Nougat has doubled its share since last month, most likely due to the many updates that have been released by major handset makers like Samsung, Motorola and LG.
Unfortunately, the situation will improve very slow, so we expect Android Nougat to exceed 30 percent market share only after the new version of the operating system is released by Google.
Speaking of which, Android O is likely to be announced in May at Google I/O, but the new OS won't be released until fall after several developer preview builds are launched for early adopters.