Marshmallow 6.0 now at 10.1%, Lollipop 5.1 at 20%

Jun 8, 2016 08:11 GMT  ·  By

Android Distribution numbers are in, showing that Marshmallow 6.0 prevalence on Android-running smartphones continues to grow. In fact, the latest version of Android OS is now running on 10.1% of devices while KitKat 4.4 continues to hold the biggest share at 31.6%.

The new distribution numbers show some interesting trends, in the sense that Android’s latest OS versions, Lollipop 5.1 and Marshmallow 6.0, were the only ones to report a grow of 0.6% and 2.6%, respectively. However, Marshmallow slightly slowed down its growth pace compared to the 2.9% rate recorded in May’s distribution chart.

KitKat 4.4 definitely reported the biggest drop of 0.9% while, as mentioned, Marshmallow 6.0 continued to grow and is now running on 10.1% of all Android devices. In fact, this version almost doubled its 4.6% share in April’s distribution chart.

All the other Android OS versions dropped by under 1%, Lollipop 5.0 distribution decreased by 0.8%, while KitKat 4.4 dropped even more, by 0.9%. JellyBean 4.2 and 4.3 also fell by 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively, while Froyo 2.2 was the only OS version to stubbornly stagnate at 0.1%.

Considering that no version below 0.1% appears in the statistics, Froyo might be removed from the distribution chart soon enough.

Android N will be unveiled in the next few months

Marshmallow 6.0 prevalence on the market will keep on growing, considering that many Android devices come with the latest version out of the box, and the version continues to roll out to many smartphones.

In addition to that, we expect some new flagship releases in the following months, therefore, future distribution charts should show a continuous growth for Marshmallow and a drop for earlier Android OS versions.

However, a comparison to last year’s Lollipop rollout reveals that Marshmallow 6.0 is running behind, as Lollipop 5.0 and 5.1 were over 12% in June last year.

Google is expected to introduce the new Android N this summer, but it will take some time until it impacts Android distribution numbers.