Android Lollipop Is Now The Most Widely Used Android Version

Android Lollipop has done it -- this version of Google’s Android mobile operating system is now the most popular in the world. For over a year, Android Lollipop had to play catch up to its predecessor, Android KitKat, but according to the latest statistics provided by Google’s Android Developer Dashboard, Android Lollipop has expanded its market share to 36.1 percent of all Android handsets, effectively snatching the crown from Android KitKat. Android Lollipop improved upon the 34.1 percent it managed the previous month, while Android KitKat saw its market share go down from 35.5 percent last month to 34.3 percent now. Google got its data from the volume of Android powered devices that visited the Google Play store over a week long period that ended last March 7th of this year.

Google released Android Lollipop back in November of 2014, but it is already March of 2016. Does it always take this long for a new version of the Android mobile operating system to become the most widely used version? Unfortunately, yes. This is because Android has a rather complicated upgrading process. Whenever Google introduces a new version of the OS, wireless carriers and phone makers have to do their own respective testing before they can effectively roll out updates to each of their Android devices. The result is that Android users often have to wait several months before they can even begin to experience the newest Android version.

iOS mobile users generally have it easy. Unlike Google, Apple has better control of the entire upgrading process, which means that deploying updates to its iOS mobile operating system is made much quicker compared to Android. Also, the fact that Apple only needs to deal with basically three devices (the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod Touch) considerably speeds up things. Android, on the other hand, has to deal with lots of different phone maker brands and models, with each one having to undergo its own testing protocols.

Take Android Marshmallow, for instance. This version of Android was launched in November of last year, but as of this writing, it is only on 2.3 percent of all Android devices around the world, four months after its release. Still, there has been some progress -- last month, Android Marshmallow only managed 1.2 percent. And because phone makers such as Samsung and Sony have been making efforts to promote Marshmallow, its adoption rate in the next few months should improve.