18-Month old Android Nougat takes the crown as the most popular Android version as of the February Android Distribution numbers. I know this is nothing to ride home about, considering we’re currently on Android Oreo but for the longest time, Android Marshmallow has been leading the pack and we are glad that Marshmallow’s reign is over.
Android Nougat now commands a market dominance of 28.5%, followed closely by Marshmallow that runs on 28.1% of all Android smartphones. Android Lollipop taking up 24.6%, KitKat 12%, JellyBean 5%, Oreo at 1.1% and ICS and Gingerbread at 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.
Below you can find Android distribution numbers for February 2018:
| Android Version | Codename | API | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.3.3-2.3.7 | Gingerbread | 10 | 0.3% |
| 4.0.3-4.0.4 | Ice Cream Sandwich | 15 | 0.4% |
| 4.1.x | Jelly Bean | 16 | 1.7% |
| 4.2.x | " | 17 | 2.6% |
| 4.3 | " | 18 | 0.7% |
| 4.4 | KitKat | 19 | 12.0% |
| 5.0 | Lollipop | 21 | 5.4% |
| 5.1 | " | 22 | 19.2% |
| 6.0 | Marshmallow | 23 | 28.1% |
| 7.0 | Nougat | 24 | 22.3% |
| 7.1 | " | 25 | 6.2% |
| 8.0 | Oreo | 26 | 0.8% |
| 8.1 | " | 27 | 0.3% |
In comparison, iOS 11, which is the latest, runs on 65% of all iPhones while iOS 10 runs on 28% of all iPhone. Android would probably have such numbers if it were not for companies like Samsung, TECNO and OPPO launching phones in 2018 that still run on Android Nougat.
Speaking of updates, Samsung’s 2017 flagships (Galaxy S8 and S8+) may not receive Android Oreo update until the end of February. Other locally dominant brands such as TECNO, Infinix and OPPO are yet to even share timelines on when their customers should be expecting an update to Android Oreo since all their 2017 flagships launched running on Android Nougat.
