Only 1.2 Percent Of Android Devices Run On Marshmallow

There is still so little love for Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the latest version of Google’s Android mobile operating system, even after four months since it officially rolled out. Indeed, Marshmallow is now still on only 1.2 percent of all Android powered mobile devices in the whole world, according to the latest information provided by Google’s Android Developer Dashboard. Still, 1.2 percent is a welcome improvement over the 0.7 percent Marshmallow managed only a month ago. Google came up with the market share percentages by checking all the smartphones and tablet devices that paid a visit to the Google Play Store during the week long period spanning January 25th to February 1st of this year. 

The very slow adoption rate of Android 6.0 Marshmallow is kind of an expected thing. Despite being the most widely used mobile operating system in the world, Android employs a pretty exasperating process for upgrading to new versions of itself. As soon as a new version is rolled out, both mobile manufacturers and wireless carriers still have to do their own testing (not to mention some tweaks of their own) before they can effectively deploy it to their respective mobile devices. The result is that Android users often have to wait several months before the latest Android version comes along. Developers of mobile apps are experiencing some frustration too, especially when they have to design apps for versions of Android that may still take some time to reach mobile users’ handsets.

Still, as far as Android 6.0 Marshmallow is concerned, some devices already have the latest Android iteration. Chief among them are Google’s own Nexus devices, especially the Nexus 5X (made in collaboration with South Korean tech giant LG) and the Nexus 6P (produced by Chinese phone maker Huawei). Also, in October of last year, Marshmallow already started deploying to other Nexus devices. LG’s flagship device, the LG G4, already has Marshmallow, and other high profile Android phone makers, like Samsung for instance, have stated that it has plans to start rolling out Marshmallow to its devices in 2016. Just a few days ago, it was announced that Samsung’s current flagship devices, the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge will get upgraded soon, per SamMobile.

The most widely used version of Android is still KitKat, with a 35.5 percent share, followed by Lollipop, which has improved to a 34.1 percent market share. It is safe to say that Lollipop should be able to overtake KitKat a month from now. On third spot is Jelly Bean, with a market share of 23.9 percent.