The latest Android distribution numbers for February are out and reveal that Marshmallow and Lollipop are the most widely used versions of the OS from Google.
The Android adoption rate has been shared by Google and offers an insight into which versions of the Google OS are still running on mobile devices. The numbers are predictable for the most bit, but there are some minor surprises in store.
Even though Android Lollipop continues to dominate the charts, Android Nougat has crossed the 1 percent mark.
Gingerbread is unsurprisingly the oldest Android OS on the charts after Froyo finally bid adieu in January.
The Android Distribution Chart
Android Lollipop
The distribution chart data shows that Android Lollipop is going strong and occupied the numero uno spot with an adoption rate of 32.9 percent. Of this number, 9.8 percent and 23.1 percent are for Android 5.0 Lollipop and Android 5.0.1, respectively.
By comparison, in January it accounted for 33.4 percent, which reflects a decline of 0.5 percent.
Android Marshmallow
The successor of the Lollipop OS, which was pouted in 2015, accounts for a total 30.7 percent. The chart only reflects the distribution for Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Like January, the OS occupies the second spot but its adoption has seen a swift increase from the previous month's 29.6 percent, which hints that more people are shifting to the OS. At this rate, Android Marshmallow will soon dismantle Android Lollipop as the most widely used Google OS.
Android Nougat
Android Nougat - the latest Google OS which was released in 2016 - has a total distribution rate of a 1.2 percent. This is encouraging as it is the first time the OS has crossed the 1 percent mark. By contrast, in the previous month the total adoption for the OS was 0.7 percent.
Android 7.0 Nougat accounted for 0.9 percent adoption (a slight improvement over 0.5 percent), whereas Android 7.1 had a 0.3 percent adoption rate (improvement over last month's 0.2 percent).
Android Nougat is finally making its way to smartphones and it is expected that the adoption rate for the OS will experience a steady growth in the coming months.
How Did The Older Android OS Fare?
It comes as no surprise that the oldest Google OS in the list is Gingerbread with a total adoption rate of 1 percent, the same as January. Ice Cream Sandwich, which released in 2011, accounted for a total 1 percent, which is a slight drop from the previous months' 1.1 percent.
Android Jelly Bean accounted for a total 11.3 percent adoption rate, which is a drop from 11.6 percent. Android KitKat is used by a total 21.9 percent devices.
