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It’s time once again to check in on Android distribution numbers. Google has released the stats for this month. As expected, Android Lollipop is on slightly more devices. Last month Lollipop was on 3.3% of devices, and now it’s up to 5.4%. We should see this number increase a lot more next month after the Samsung Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9 have been available longer.
For those of you paying extra close attention you can see that Android 5.1 is only on 0.4% of devices. KitKat and Jelly Bean are still leading the way with over 80% of the pie. It’s no surprise that Android updates take a while to reach devices, but these charts don’t always tell the whole story. “Lollipop” is really Google’s own version of Android, just like TouchWiz or Sense. It’s not fair to expect other manufacturers to be on the same level as Nexus devices.
Hopefully next month we see more devices experiencing the sweet taste of Lollipop. Is your device running Lollipop yet?
[via Google]
These numbers will be skewed a tad bit more next month. ;-)
A bunch of us @ A/F are pinging the GOOGLE PLAY STORE w/our older devices, checking out ScaryAlien’s apps RAM Truth & Storage Truth.
Give ’em a look people, especially RAM Truth.
NO ADS & No permissions required. :-)
Considering that if at I/O 2014 there were one billion 30 day users, the number has gone up a lot more, so several users pinging the Play Store with old devices won’t do anything to skewer the numbers.
I’m well aware of the billion+ devices worldwide. That was a tongue-in-cheek comment. ;-)
KitKat still had the majority which is good enough for me. Some people also don’t care to have the latest and greatest software. I’m on LG G2 and it’s still great on KitKat. From what I’ve been seeing is the LG devices taking a hit on battery life on Lollipop so I’m content staying where I’m at.
My Kindle Fire HDX (2013) is still on Jelly Ben and I have not ran into any apps that will not work for me. So yeah Jelly bean is working perfectly fine for my needs.
Two of mine are (Nexus 7 and the Nexus Player). I’m waiting on the Moto X (1st Gen) to get 5.1 now, but it’s fine on KitKat.
My Galaxy Pro tablet finally upgraded to 5 today.
” “Lollipop” is really Google’s own version of Android, just like TouchWiz or Sense.”
That makes no sense. Lollipop is the Android version – TouchWiz and Sense are two manufacturer UI overlays (in these cases by Samsung and HTC respectively) which sit on top of whatever version of Android the handset is running, including Lollipop.
You must be new to Android…
HTC Sense is not a UI overlay – it’s a separate branch with mods for the kernel, system framework and libraries, and apps bound to those changes.
TouchWiz – same.
@EarlyMon:disqus hits it on the head.
I would also add that “Lollipop” is not the same as AOSP Android 5.0. Google adds a bunch of their own apps and services.
AOSP Android 5.0 is Lollipop whichever way you look at it, it’s not the Google Experience variant found on Nexus phones, but it’s still Lollipop
My Nexus 7 1st gen is on 5.1 but my Nexus 7 2nd gen hasn’t gotten the update yet. My Nexus 5 has received the 5.1 update but I’ve not applied it as it’s rooted and I wanted to take the opportunity to apply 5.1 as a complete fresh install. Seeing Gingerbread with a bigger % than Lollipop makes me want to cry though!
Still seeing Froyo is insane
I do not care for the taste of lollipop.
This will always be an “issue”. To many Android type phones, so many OS’s so far. There will always be a huge gap across all of the OS’s.
I still run KK versions on a tablet and a phone given I have tricked and modded them (Ninjamorph and some goodies from XDA), they are stable and proven and I really do not care about Lollipoop.
This is sad. Too many manufacturers with too many hardware configurations and too much say on the “testing” from carriers.
Still waiting for sprint to release it for Galaxy Note 3.. i think they’re the last carrier to do so. Hell, the Note 2 already has it on some carriers..
My Verizon Note 3 is still running the leaked kitkat build with the extra dev type stuff onboard.
If the Moto E can run lollipop, so can the rest of most recent Android phones. Carriers and manufacturers have no excuse other than being lazy.
SMH sad….
Sad how?
Its been out since Nov….
So? it doesn’t make it sad, don’t be upset about it.
I’m not I have a nexus. :)
That number is way higher than i thought it would be. I expected 1.5-2.2%
Is there a way to compare Nexus #s to iOS? The fact that Apple is supporting phones more often without fragmentation shows that Google needs to revamp their carrier bloating policies. As an iOS and Android user, I think the gap between them is this, iOS focuses more on the core experience at the cost of function. It’s the other way around with Android with the form being inconsistent because of different skins and bloating.
Now that I actually bought an iPhone for cheap, I see why people are fond of them. Who knows, if they make a nice phone for the 6S+, I might buy it. I already like the 6+ despite the price.
Here’s the thing. Take SOMEONE ELSE’s iOS device and SOMEONE ELSE’s Android device (Nexus, Samsung, HTC, whatever). Now try starting applications and going into Settings and the like.
With iOS you are at the mercy of how the owner configured their home screens to find anything. The Android app drawer and notification bar puts them in an easy to find spot on every device. You can still customize your home screen to your liking, but when working with a strange device, it’s much easier to use Android.
But at the same time, the S6 is the same way with the app drawer. Samsung didn’t put an alphabetical order. As an iOS user, I see different combos, but most people I know with iPhones keep things they need on the first page.
Apple distortion field in effect, older iPhone get a borked version that doesn’t do all the new stuff, it just has the same version number, still fragmented, just not in name.
If it’s over 2 years old, then yes. My friend’s 5S isn’t borked. My 5C that I just got cost me less than $200 + works really well.
So if we remove all Android phones with a design older than 2 years the percentage won’t look so dramatic. JS
Actually, Kitkat was meant to work with 512 MB of RAM.
Not sure how that’s relavent to adoption rates but ok, if you say so.
I’m purposely keeping my Note 4 on 4.4.4. Apparently Lollipop has some issues, and to be honest, I have everything I want with root and Xposed.
I believe there’s a pretty simple solution or at least a way to speed up the transitions DRASTICALLY: TAKE THE OS OUT OF CARRIER’S HANDS! Make Libraries needed for networks just that. An update available from the carrier which the OS is backward compatible with until they get their act together. Make how Nexus works THE NORM!
Ya…that’s not how this works.
Ok, I was under the impression Nexus was updated direct. That’s what we should move to.
You can’t take the OS out of the carriers’ hands. That’s part of the point of Android.
I suppose I should know this as I develop Java for a living, but what is this “point”? For the Carrier to do customizations I wouldn’t classify as a “win” for the consumer. Not to mentions updates disappear once the phone is no longer sold.
“Lollipop is on just 5.4% of devices”
Stop the FUD.
At this time last year, KitKat was on 5.3% of devices, so Lollipop continues to roll out slightly faster than KitKat did.
This is mainly because of over skinning by, sony, samsung, htc & LG. Skin Less & make users more happy.
Not even going to consider upgrading my M7s to Lollipop unless HTC relents and pushes out 5.1. KitKat’s working fine.
For me, as well s many of my friends, we have rooted our devices, so i’m not sure how that fits into the discussion here. I am keeping mine on KitKat, because i have absolutely no issues, and see no need to update. No real benefits to outweigh the possibility of screwing up some app or slowing something else down.
It’s moving along faster than some previous versions, however with that being said, we all can tell that Google as wells as device manufacturers are slowing making their apps available in the Play Store to take a lot of this out of the carriers hands. I think in a year or 2 the problem will not be this bad.
Honestly, I’ve thought about reverting both my Nexus4 and Nexus7 back to KitKat on MULTIPLE occasions. Memory leaks, horrible un-intuitive volume control, quadruple the app install time, and I haven’t seen one iota of performance increase. : /