14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just released the latest Android Distribution numbers, showing that Android Nougat continues to grow, while Lollipop keeps its lead. The data was collected during a 7-day period ending May 2, 2017.
Android 7.0 Nougat is now installed on 6.6% of the smartphones running Google's OS, compared to 4.5% last month. Android 7.1 has made its way to 0.5% devices, after growing just 0.1% from last month. The chart does reveal that Nougat continues to steadily increase its share, as new smartphones are released and older models continue to receive updates to the latest Android mobile OS version. In addition, recently released smartphones continue to be activated, including the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.
Android 6.0 Marshmallow recorded a share of 31.2%, same as last month. Marshmallow didn’t increase or drop its distribution share among Android-running smartphones, but this version is very close to surpassing Lollipop, which is currently in the lead with 32%.
Lollipop’s share is the same as last month, but version 5.0 dropped, after 0.3% of devices received an update to Lollipop 5.1, thus increasing the version’s share to 23.3%.
Gingerbread increased its share by 0.1%
KitKat distribution decreased from 20.0% last month to 18.8% in the latest chart, while Jelly Bean also dropped 1% to 9.1% this month. Fewer Android-running devices now have Ice Cream Sandwich installed on them, this version’s share reached 0.8% this month, down from 0.9%.
Surprisingly, Gingerbread increased its share from 0.9% last month to 1.0% in the latest distribution numbers. Gingerbread is the only Android version in the chart to raise this month, aside from Android Nougat. Whenever a certain Android version drops below 0.1% in the chart, it’s removed to make way for a new one.
This will happen with Gingerbread at some point, possibly early next year, but it’s very surprising that the numbers for this particular version increased, as it’s expected to slowly and steadily follow the exact opposite trend.