Over 12 million Devices Run On Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google’s Android Marshmallow

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s newest version of Android Marshmallow has finally gone past one percent market share of all Android devices, roughly four months after its release.

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Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and earlier Nexus devices have been the only smartphones running the OS. Nexus smartphones are sought by those who desire the latest version of Android as well as speedy security patches. However they constitute a tiny part of the Android ecosystem which is dominated by Samsung.

Presently Marshmallow’s adoption is 1.2% an increase from 0.7% the previous month. The figures indicate that Nexus devices make up only a small percentage of over 1 billion active Android devices presently in use.

Marshmallow adoption should increase in coming months, with Samsung debuting the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge in South Korea. The Android version is going to release in many more gadgets and markets between February and April. This includes the new Galaxy S7 as well.

KitKat is the most popular version of Android with 35.5% market share. In second place is last year’s release Android Lollipop which has 34.1% market share. Its rise is because of several new smartphones running the OS.

Older versions of Android, like the four-year-old Jelly Bean still run on many existing devices. Jelly Bean currently has 23.9% market share. The even older Froyo, Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich are among the versions having over 0.1% market share.

Google found the market share of each Android version by checking all the gadgets that visited the Google Play Store in the seven-day period finishing on Monday. The slow adoption rate is a result of a complex and at certain times frustrating upgrades procedure.

Smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers need to test each new version coming from Google for every gadget prior to planning and executing a rollout. This results in Android users having to wait months prior to obtaining the latest version. It also tests developers, who have to continually design apps for the various Android versions.

Few mobile device manufacturers have put Marshmallow on their products. It is preinstalled on Google’s latest Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P and was put on other Nexus devices in October. LG is providing it on limited G4 smartphones.

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