Google has made public its updated Google Play distribution data for the seven-day period that ends on May 2. The Android distribution chart shows that Android 6.0 Marshmallow now runs on 7.5 percent of active Android devices. This is a significant 2.9 percent increase from the previous April figure of 4.6 percent. The Marshmallow-powered devices have steadily increased in recent months. In its nascent stage, Android 6.0 Marshmallow just made it to 1 percent of active devices in February 2016 that was almost five months after its release to Nexus devices.
Google also reported that Android Lollipop, the predecessor to Marshmallow, has a total share of around 35.6 percent of active Android devices that check into Google Play. In the previous month, Android Lollipop had a total share of 35.8 percent of active Android devices. This change in figures implies that Marshmallow’s gain was Lollipop’s loss. According to the Android Developers’ webpage, Android KitKat is going down steadily on the charts, and now powers 32.5 percent of active devices as compared to 33.4 percent of devices last month.
Android Jelly Bean, the predecessor to Kitkat, has a combined share of 20.1 percent, 1.2 percent lower than April’s 21.3 percent. Android 4.0.x or Ice Cream Sandwich, in the latest chart, registered a share of 2 percent, which is down from 2.2 percent in April. Android Gingerbread and Android 2.2 Froyo’s device distribution shares are 2.2 percent, which is down from 2.6 percent and 0.1 percent respectively in the latest charts. One must note that the figures are gathered from devices visiting the Google Play app, which only supports Android 2.2 and above.
The latest OpenGL version distribution numbers, on the other hand, saw OpenGL 2.0 dominating at 49.6 percent, and OpenGL version 3.0 steadily rising to 41.4 percent.
