Nougat is now most popular Android operating system and Android Oreo Claims only 1 Percent , II With Android 9 about to launch, Android 7 from 2016 is finally the most popular version

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With Android 9 about to launch, Android 7 from 2016 is finally the most popular version

 

Is it a problem that the most popular version of Android in the world is always at least two years behind? Well, it depends who you ask. If you ask hardcore Android fans, they often don’t care because they buy brand new flagship Android smartphones anyway each year. They still often have to deal with year-old versions of Android unless they decide to go with a Google Pixel phone, but that still doesn’t seem to bother them. If you ask anyone else, however, it’s pretty apparent that an ecosystem where the vast majority of users are forced to use versions of Android that are two or three generations old is… well… less than optimal.
Our latest reminder of the less than optimal situation in Google’s Android ecosystem came on Tuesday morning when Google updated its Android version distribution for February.

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For the first time since it was released back in 2016, Android 7 Nougat has officially become the most popular version of Android in use by Android devices around the world. Meanwhile, last year’s Android 8 Oreo release reached a major milestone as well. With Android 9 about to launch at the Google I/O developer conference in just a few months, 2017’s Android 8 release is finally in use on just over 1% of Android devices.

The data above was updated on Google’s developer site on Tuesday morning, and it once again paints a troubling picture of Google’s Android platform. Because updates pass through so many hands before they can actually roll out to third-party devices, most users around the world don’t have access to the latest and greatest Android features.
Android is now home to approximately 2 billion monthly active users, which means hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people across all markets are using versions of Android from two, three, or even four or more years ago. As you can see above, just under 25% of Android devices are still on Android 5 Lollipop from 2014, and 12% still have Android 4.4 KitKat from all the way back in 2013.

 

Android Nougat, released in August 2016, is finally the most used version of the mobile operating system. However, the latest build, Android Oreo, is just at over 1 percent, revealing the severity of Google's infamous Android fragmentation problem.  ( Android | Twitter )

 

It took one and a half years, but Android Nougat is now the most used version of the operating system among all operational Android devices.
The overarching problem is that usage for the latest major version, Android Oreo, has just crept over 1 percent, revealing the severity of Google's infamous Android fragmentation problem.

Android Nougat Now Most Used Android Version

The February distribution numbers in the Android Developers dashboards revealed that the usage of Android Nougat, including both Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 7.1 Nougat, has reached a total of 28.5 percent. This makes it the most used version of the operating system, overtaking Android Marshmallow, which is at 28.1 percent.
Total Android Nougat usage increased by 2.2 percentage points from 26.3 percent in the January distribution numbers. Meanwhile, Android Marshmallow, which is over two years old, only saw a 0.5 percentage point decline.
The distribution numbers collected the data from Android devices that accessed the Google Play Store over a seven-day period that ended on Feb. 5. This means that the information is not an exact representation of the Android distribution numbers. However, it does show that the Android fragmentation problem is still very much at hand.

Android Oreo Finally Over 1 Percent

The usage of Android Oreo, the latest build of the operating system that was released in August 2017, has slowly crept up. In the latest numbers, Android 8.0 Oreo and Android 8.1 Oreo combined for usage of 1.1 percent.
The slow adoption of Android Oreo is a glaring example of the operating system's fragmentation problem, as users often stick to the version of Android that came preinstalled on their mobile device. This is despite the security upgrades and new features that Google includes in each new major Android release. In comparison, 65 percent of iOS devices are powered by the latest iOS 11.
With Android Oreo just having crawled over 1.1 percent usage, Google is already reportedly planning to unveil Android P at this year's I/O Developer Conference.
Android P is expected to be one of the major announcements at the upcoming event, but the question is whether Android device users are really ready for another major version. Some smartphone manufacturers are still rolling out devices with Android Nougat preinstalled. Also, with Android Oreo at just barely over 1.1 percent usage, there's no telling how long it will take Android P to gain a significant share of Android devices.
Google laid out guidelines near the end of 2017 that developers should make apps targeting Android Oreo in 2018. It remains to be seen, however, if this result in any significant impact on the operating system version's usage.

First released 18 months ago, Nougat is now the most popular Android OS in the world, having finally overtaken its predecessor, Marshmallow.

Nougat (7.0 and 7.1) is installed on 28.5 per cent of Android phones, according to visits to the Google Play store in the first week of February according to Google's Android Developers site.

Meanwhile, Marshmallow (6.0) is now at 28.1 per cent, and Lollipop (5.0 and 5.1) is now at 24.6 per cent. The newest Android OS, Oreo, currently makes up just 1.1 per cent of users.
Most iPhone users, by contrast, are generally using the newest software on their phones. According to Apple, 65 per cent of its users are using iOS 11, while 28 per cent are on iOS 10 and the remaining 7 per cent on iOS 9 and earlier.