Another month, another look at the Android defragmentation distribution stats from Google, showing the hottest Android versions in the market. As well as those that just flat out refuse to die. For March, we’re seeing some promising results for Android 6.0 Marshmallow, jumping nearly twice its share. And, officially, Android 5.0 and 5.1 Lollipop is the most used Android version of all, displacing the once king KitKat. Almost comically, Froyo remains on the chart, hanging by a thread.
Google’s stats for Android distribution and devices are primarily meant for developer and OEMs to gauge the will of the market, revealing which versions, and their API, to target and which device sizes and resolutions to best support. For the regular observer, however, they also give insight on the spread and state of the varying Android versions in the market.
Android Marshmallow jumped from 1.2% to 2.3%, nearly double from the previous month. A promising trend which will hopefully continue as more OEMs, like Sony and Samsung, rain down the soft, chewy treat on their existing devices. The biggest winner, however, is Lollipop. While the 2% gain it had since the last month might not seem much, it was enough to displace Android 4.4 KitKat from the top spot. Considering all versions except Lollipop and Marshmallow are declining in numbers, there’s is little threat to 5.0 and 5.1. Coincidentally, Android 5.1 actually surpasses its slightly older 5.0 sibling.
Android 2.2 Froyo is, amusingly, still there, sitting at the precarious 0.1% mark. Move but a bit and it will be taken off the charts for good.
All in all, it seems that the journey away from Android fragmentation is proceeding smoothly. With fewer versions to worry about, developers can simply target the latest two or three versions still going strong in the market. However, they still have to mind differences in hardware capabilities, which are just as tricky to get right. And there’s also the probability of Android N later this year skewing the chart eventually.
SOURCE: Google
Still waiting for Marshmallow to come out for my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. Would I expect it before N comes out? Or before I buy a new one? Sigh.
I sincerely wished Android was like Chrome. Chrome runs on every device in my home and gets updated frequently. My phone on the other hand is still back in the days of KitKat. Its not that there is anything wrong with KitKat, its just that by the time you buy a phone its operating system is already out of date.
And certainly there is no incentive for a phone manufacturer to update my phone. There is just no money to be made doing phone updates. No different than the lessons learned by Microsoft and Windows 10 or Apple and IOS. At least in Microsoft’s case they have learned that while you once paid for the initial operating system as part of the cost of manufacturing a device the updates are now subsequently free.
Therefore I don’t see a whole lot of future for Chrome and Android systems unless Google gets its act together and begins to get control of these systems. It doesn’t make any difference if I buy a $169.00 Windows 10 laptop or an $800 Windows 10 gaming computer. Both get the same updates. If I buy a $150.00 phone I will most likely will never see any updates. If I buy a $600 phone I MAY get an update but even then there is no guarantee the company will push new updates to you. That to me is just wrong thinking.
Thank you for taking the time to read this long posting.