The latest version of Android is now on 1.2% of devices

Android 7.x Nougat is now on 1.2% of active Android phones, according to the latest numbers from Google. That's up 0.5% from last month, which may not seem like a lot but it's the biggest one-month jump since the platform was made official last August. That's thanks to big-name updates from companies like Huawei, Samsung, LG and more.

But older versions like Marshmallow, at 30.7%, are still far more ubiquitous — it even increased 1.1% over last month! Other versions, like Lollipop, KitKat and most flavors of Jelly Bean, are all down from January, but not enough to make any significant difference. The reality is that fragmentation is still very much a thing on Android, and that 35.2% of devices are still running software from 2013 or earlier.

With the Galaxy S7 expected to receive Nougat in volume this quarter, that number of Android 7.x-based phones should shoot up again in March, but it will be a long time before it approaches anything close to what we're seeing from holdouts like Jelly Bean and KitKat.

Daniel Bader was a former Android Central Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor for iMore and Windows Central.

56 Comments

LG get your act together with the G4 update
Upgrade to the G5. If they do update the G4 to Nougat it isn't going to happen for a long time. Point is it is a marketing standpoint. Every company does it on purpose so they can get people to upgrade to their newer current model phones.
Not everyone can afford a new phone every year or two.
It doesn't matter whether or not you can or can't afford a new phone. It is about the marketing of the product. If they were throwing the operating system on all their priors phones they would lose money in terms of people wanting to upgrade. What would be the point in them making a newer phone with the operating system then? It would be pointless, minus a couple of features they tinker with. It's a pure marketing standpoint. Whether it be LG, Samsung, HTC, whoever it is. That would be like price matching guarantee's too. Even though the phone goes down in price over the years are they going to honor the customer getting a refund two years later when the phone they bought brand spanking new depreciated in value? Absolutely not. Owning a business is about making a profit, not losing more than they can make.
All that is fine and dandy except Apple updates their phones and they still sell you a new one every 2 years. There's goes that argument.
Exactly. I am more likely to go back to a phone manufacturer if they give regular updates than if they leave the phone unsupported. This is why I like Nexus phones.
How so. You changed the conversation from Android to Apple. So not only you couldn't refute my comment, but you had to change the subject to talk about a company that doesn't offer Android operating systems.
...you're comparing apples and androids... Big difference. Apple has an obsolescence structure built in to their future release strategy. That is, when they release a base-model device, brand new, they expect the 2-years future OS, plus minimal necessaries, will consume the entire built-in storage of said base-model device. And the only way the consumer can avoid this planned obsolescence, is to pay an OUTRAGEOUS premium for a minor built-in internal storage increase (about $5 per gig). Basically, Apple's consistent releases are all about quantity... plus whatever quality they can ripoff from Android (but that's a different topic). The vast majority of Androids, on the other hand, use portable expandable memory (purchased for about $0.40 per gig), and support A2SD. Plus, there's generally a dissociation between software and hardware developers. So the purposeful-obsolescence incentive doesn't exist. It's ALL about quality, NOT quantity (with the moot exception for carrier bloatware). Buuuuuut..... I'm not sure why I explained all of this, since your previous post clearly indicates an inability, or conscious unwillingness, to understand such concepts....
Agree...
Dont understand how KK and LP are still being used on devices
It is simple...People buy budget phones, they do the things that are wanted, and these people do not know or care about updates. I would imagine that many people never even look in settings to see Check For Updates.
My kids have a budget phone with Nougat.
Because you know about these things. That has no influence on a large number of phone users that just buy something cheap and keep it until it dies. What you do is indicative of people at this site (a statistical 0% of Android users).
Tell that to Sprint. They never released the Marshmallow update for the LG G3 even though all the other carriers did. The G3 wasn't some budget phone, either.
Because they wanted you to upgrade to the next model. They figured if you liked the G3 so much that you would upgrade to the G4 with new improved software and a couple extra features.
Again...MOST people simply do not care about updates. People that read tech blogs do, but that is not a high percentage of Android users.
Pretty sure most (if not all) phones have automatic updates on by default, so no need for the user to manually check. That's not the problem. The problem is those phones never get OS updates. You're lucky if you get security updates.
Kit Kat and Lollipop are both fully functional and have little need for update. Ever since Gingerbread, Android has been running smooth and the updates have been incremental improvements and nothing major. There hasn't been anything on Marshmallow or Lollipop that have been must haves for me. Some of the stuff is nice to have, but really doesn't impact my use of the phone. I think a lot of people out there don't care about the latest and greatest as long as their phone works which Android has for the past 3-4 years without issue.
Marshmallow battery improvements would nice to have, no?
I have yet to see any improvement in that department on either MM or N. It's all bulls***. My old LG G2 on KK was and still to this day is a battery champ.
Speak for yourself. My kk devices were and are ****. I'd never go back to those battery hogs.
Take a look at places like Amazon and such and see that tablets are a big reason. I don't see many that are even on Marshmallow.
Friend of mine still uses his S4 because it works for him. He isn't a power user so the phone still does everything he needs it to do. There are more people like him than there are people who upgrade every year. That is why there are still Lollipop and Kit Kat devices out there. That and people with older tablets. I still use an old Tab 2 with Jelly Bean. Doesn't do power house stuff but does the minimal stuff well enough to still be used.
Hence why I finally bought a Google phone. Best decision I ever made.
Funny how they stopped reporting Honeycomb a while back. Maybe my old Revue is the last device left running it?? Haha.
It may not help much but they should stop reporting on G and I and possibly J. And google should promo folks to turn in a working version of these phones to get a google play gift cards..:)
Ceasing that reporting would be somewhat Fraudulent.
I got nougat on my Axon 7 super happy and phone is working great
This is the difference when you have different hardware manufacturers vs one (i.e. Apple). Plus don't forget the carriers and update process in us, again Apple can dictate to carriers,while the rest I.e. Android manufacturers have no say even Samsung.
Both sad and pathetic.
Does it really matter? Many people do not even like receiving updates, they just want their phone to work. Look at Marshmallow numbers versus Windows 10. They were released about the same time and have similar penetration into their respective platforms, but most Android devices didn't even have the option of upgrading to Marshmallow while almost every PC can be updated to Windows 10. Microsoft even attempted to trick people into installing it and did everything they could. I want updates so I will only buy phones that get updates. Most people don't seem to care though and why should they?
Fact check time... https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=...
What are you trying to say with numbers from 2015?
Not really. You could probably do a survey around the world and half of the people that have phones probably don't know a hoot about Nougat, Marshmallow or don't even know about some of the features. Then you have some that want it because they think the name is cool.
Just updated my Axon 7, and so far so good! Really like the new notifications on the lock screen, much nicer. And of course Daydream is fun.
Who the Hell still uses Gingerbread!? BTW, does anyone know what is the current number of active Android devices? Last count I saw was 1.4 Billion, but that was from September 2015.
I got a 1.65 billion number at Google I/O last year. I'm going to guess it hovers around that mark because we've reached the saturation point until more places in the world can have affordable service to use them.
Yea... This is one of the reasons I bought the US unlocked HTC 10...We got 7.0 back in Nov and are running with the January security patch now. Way better then most manufacturers
There's the same amount of people on Nougat as there are on Gingerbread.
Quite crap really.
And this is why unfortunately i have to continue to buy Google only phone's. Problem with Android is Even the big OEMs have way too many phone's to keep all updated they really should just have high mid low end phone each category one big one small that will cover 99℅ of the world so the software teams only have 3 new phone's to concentrate on each Which in theory should give them the opportunity to keep phone's updated for 2 year's minimum. But with sooooo many different phones I can see why some get no love.
W00t! We're 98.8% up to date...wait, no, what? We're 98.8% out of date? Whaaat? Noooo....
I'm still waiting Nougat update for Moto G4. Shame.
So happy with my Nexus 6.
What's up the ads rolling across the screen? Are you guys trying to irritate your readers to the point where we stop coming to this site? Stop it!
Haven't kept up....Is this the first month Froyo is off the list?
Froyo was off last month too.
I only buy phones with the latest build of Android.
Any updates after that is a plus. If I just have to to have a phone that has the lastest version, I would buy a Google Branded Phone. Any other device bought should only be expected to have what came on it when you bought it. (Manufacturers know updates keep people coming back, that's why we get them. But make no mistake in believing that your new purchase is going to be updated OS wise, until you decide to buy newer hardware.) Come on Sprint..., My stock GS7 needs the Nougat update!
Still waiting for Nougat on Moto X Pure.
No big deal. Most of the world are buying $100 crap phones that have no chance of being updated, and why would they be? Very misleading information. The high end phones that compete with Crapple are always updated for 1 to 2 years.
I've been using nexus phones exclusively since i've been able to afford my own devices. One thing I will say is this: If you want the current bleeding edge ****, then you have to buy nexus/pixel. Very, very few other devices can match the update pace of a google device. Recently, I've started to ask, does it even matter? If you're on Marshmallow or even kitkat, if the damn device does exactly what you need it to do, then what's the problem? My desktop pc runs windows 7, and I've never felt marginalized. I'd say the same thing about a phone OS. Agree? no?
Security updates are a must. If your phone is at least getting those then I'd say have at it. While I love Nougat if kitkat or marshmallow is good enough for someone then they did have a reason to upgrade. Not getting security updates would be dangerous though.
Totally, I feel like security updates are probably more important than an entire OS overhaul for your device.
Do devices running say, marshmallow or kitkat, not receive security updates? If so, I would say it's a security risk.
Depends on the phone and whether the manufacturer bothers to push them out.
Where are the Cupcake stats?
wow i respect then help say you wellcome to thanks

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