Lollipop Graces One Out Of Five Android Devices As Marshmallow Comes To Town
It's been just over 10 months since Android 5.0 Lollipop was first made available to the general public, and in that time, it's found its way onto one out of every five Android devices. If you'd prefer to take the glass half empty approach, you can point out that four out of five Android devices are still waiting for Lollipop, Marshmallow be damned.
According to the data by Android Developers, Android 5.0 is installed on 15.9 percent of Android devices, while Android 5.1 (also Lollipop) adds another 5.1 percent. That comes out to an even 21 percent.
The majority of Android devices these days are rocking Android 4.4, otherwise known as KitKat. It holds a 39.2 percent share of the Android device market, followed by versions 4.1.x through 4.3 (Jelly Bean) at 31.8 percent, 2.3.3 through 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) at 4.1 percent, 4.0.3 through 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) at 3.7 percent, and version 2.2 (Froyo) at 0.2 percent.
We know, rattling off a bunch of numbers is about as interesting as listing to someone describe how drunk they got the night before at a frat party, or recount how they got screwed by the river in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament after going all-in. It's the story behind the numbers that matter, which in this case is that the most prevalent version of Android is soon to be two generations old.
The issue of fragmentation is one that Google has yet to solve, perhaps because Google doesn't view it as a problem. After all, if you want to always have the latest and greatest version of Android, you can purchase a Nexus device or get into the third-party ROM scene.
Those options are of little consolation to Android device owners waiting for their handset maker and wireless carrier to dole out an update to Lollilop, which will still put them a generation behind once Marshmallow rolls out.
Speaking of which, Marshmallow is expected to be available to the general public by the end of the month. Despite the jump to Android 6.0, it's more of an incremental upgrade with a focus on bug fixes and other backend improvements.
According to the data by Android Developers, Android 5.0 is installed on 15.9 percent of Android devices, while Android 5.1 (also Lollipop) adds another 5.1 percent. That comes out to an even 21 percent.
The majority of Android devices these days are rocking Android 4.4, otherwise known as KitKat. It holds a 39.2 percent share of the Android device market, followed by versions 4.1.x through 4.3 (Jelly Bean) at 31.8 percent, 2.3.3 through 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) at 4.1 percent, 4.0.3 through 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) at 3.7 percent, and version 2.2 (Froyo) at 0.2 percent.
We know, rattling off a bunch of numbers is about as interesting as listing to someone describe how drunk they got the night before at a frat party, or recount how they got screwed by the river in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament after going all-in. It's the story behind the numbers that matter, which in this case is that the most prevalent version of Android is soon to be two generations old.
The issue of fragmentation is one that Google has yet to solve, perhaps because Google doesn't view it as a problem. After all, if you want to always have the latest and greatest version of Android, you can purchase a Nexus device or get into the third-party ROM scene.
Those options are of little consolation to Android device owners waiting for their handset maker and wireless carrier to dole out an update to Lollilop, which will still put them a generation behind once Marshmallow rolls out.
Speaking of which, Marshmallow is expected to be available to the general public by the end of the month. Despite the jump to Android 6.0, it's more of an incremental upgrade with a focus on bug fixes and other backend improvements.
