Google has updated its developer page with the latest adoption figures for the Android mobile operating system.
We’ve watched Lollipop slowly creep onto more and more devices over time, and it now seems to be gaining serious traction.
The latest Android OS now resides on 9.7 per cent of Google-powered devices. Android 5.0 accounts for 9 per cent, while 5.1 accounts for the remaining 0.7 per cent.
That’s a big boost from last month; on April 8, we reported that Lollipop was on just 5.4 per cent of devices.
In March, by contrast, it was on 3.3 per cent of devices, so there’s a clear quickening in growth.
We can put this faster pace down to the proliferation of flagship smartphones that carry Android Lollipop straight out of the box.
There’s been an abundance of Lollipop-toting handset launching in 2015 thus far, including the HTC One M9, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, the LG G4, and the Sony Xperia Z4.
Related: Best Android Smartphones 2015
So what are the rest of the Android user-base using? Well, Android 4.4 KitKat remains the most popular OS build, accounting for 39.8 per cent of devices.
That’s closely followed by Jelly Bean (4.1.x, 4.2.x, and 4.3), which sits on 39.2 per cent of handsets.
Amusingly, 0.3 per cent of Android users are still using Android 2.2 Froyo, which released back on May 20, 2010.
By contrast, the latest figures on Apple’s developer page reveal that 81 per cent of compatible devices are using the latest iOS 8.
We can’t compare Android and iOS like-for-like, however, as Apple’s operating system only exists on a small number of devices.
Android, meanwhile, currently operates on over 18,000 different devices according to Google. This fragmentation makes it difficult to roll out software updates effectively.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.