Android Lollipop is only on 5.4 percent of devices, and Kitkat is still the most popular

By Christian Brazil Bautista April 8, 2015

Android Lollipop Usage — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google has just released data on Android distribution, and it appears Lollipop is on a slow crawl to ubiquity. Five months since Google started rolling out the latest version of its OS, only 5.4 percent of Android devices have been updated, and it’s no wonder, given the small number of devices the update has reached.

The survey covered all devices that are running the latest version the Play Store app. Since the app is compatible with Android 2.2 and above, ancient versions of the OS (which amounts to 1.1 percent of Android users) were excluded in the survey. The data gathered in the report represented Google Play Store activity for an entire week.

Lollipop made its first appearance in the distribution charts in February. That was the first time that the OS covered more than 0.1 percent of Android devices. Since then, Lollipop adoption has been increasing at a slow and steady rate. This month’s numbers represented modest gains from the 3.3 percent that the OS posted in March.

The most popular version of the OS is Android Kitkat at 41.4 percent. This represents a 0.5 percent increase from March. Lollipop’s numbers were at the same level as Ice Cream Sandwich (5.7 percent) and Gingerbread (6.4 percent). Android Jelly Bean also remains popular with a 40.7 percent aggregate share. All variants of Android 4.1 were at 16.5 percent, Android 4.2 was at 18.6 percent, and lastly, Android 4.3 generated 5.6 percent.

Android’s adoption numbers are in stark contrast with Apple’s iOS. Last March, Apple said that 77 percent of all iPhones and iPads registered with the App Store were running on iOS 8. Its numbers indicate an upward trend for iOS 8 adoption since that figure represents a five-percent increase from the previous month.

The trend toward Lollipop is likely to continue for Android. The roll-out for Android 5.0 is still ongoing, even though Google has already released Android 5.1 to select Nexus devices.

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Christian Brazil Bautista

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Christian Brazil Bautista is an experienced journalist who has been writing about technology and music for the past decade…

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