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Each month, various data reports come through detailing the general smartphone and operating system landscapes. While some of these come from third-party data analysis companies, each month also sees Google release their figures on the breakdown of the Android operating system across devices. This is the Android Distribution figures and they provide a good insight into the current status of Android and how much of the overall Android ecosystem is being used by the various Android releases that have come through over the years. Last month proved to be an interesting month, as it was the first month which the latest version, Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) make an appearance on the list, albeit a small appearance. Now Google has released their latest distribution figures and these cover the seven-day period ending on December 7th.
In terms of the main numbers, the latest arrival for Android, Marshmallow now comes in at the 0.5-percent distribution level. Although an increase, it is only a minor increase compared to last month where the figure was listed as 0.3-percent and marked Marshmallow’s debut as part of the monthly distribution breakdown. Moving on to the former flagship variant, Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and the latest figures show Lollipop now coming in at 29.5-percent. Which marks a much more significant increase compared to Marshmallow, with Lollipop seeing growth of almost 4-percent with last month’s figure coming in at 25.6-percent. For those wondering, this equates to a further breakdown of 16.3-percent for Android 5.0 and 13.2-percent for Android 5.1.
In terms of Android 4.4 (KitKat), this month sees another expected decrease in its distribution. The latest figures show that decrease to be a 1.2-percent decrease, down to the 36.6-percent marker and down from last month’s 37.8-percent marker. Moving further back and Jelly Bean now sees a total distribution of 26.9-percent, which is noticeably down from last month’s 29-percent marker. This breaks down as 10-percent for Android 4.1.x, 13-percent for Android 4.2.x and 3.9-percent for Android 4.3. Further back still is Android 4.0.3-4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which now sees its level decreasing down to 2.9-percent (down from 3.3-percent). In terms of Gingerbread, the latest figures shows a 3.4-percent distribution level (down from 3.8-percent), while Froyo remains static on 0.2-percent.
