Google shares Android distribution for May 2017, Nougat and Gingerbread usage up

Google once again updated its Android distribution numbers today, revealing how widespread the usage for each version of Android has been.

During the 7-day period ending on May 2, 7.1 percent of devices that accessed the Play Store were running Android Nougat (7.0 and 7.1). That’s up from 4.9 percent last month. Meanwhile, Android Marshmallow (6.0) usage held steady at 31.2 percent.

Usage of Android Lollipop (5.0 and 5.1) also held steady this month, staying at 32.0 percent. Android KitKat (4.4) wasn’t so lucky, though, slipping from 20 percent last month to 18.8 percent this month. Android Jelly Bean fell, too, going from 10.1 percent in April to 9.1 percent in May. Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) dropped from 0.9 percent in April to 0.8 percent in May.

The head-scratcher of a result here is Android Gingerbread (2.3.3 through 2.3.7), which actually grew from 0.9 percent in April to 1.0 percent in May, despite the fact that that version of Android is several years old.

While Android Nougat still has a bit further to go before it hits the 10 percent milestone, it’s good to see usage of the latest major Android release continue to grow. That number should get a nice boost over the next month or two as more customers pick up the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8, two major smartphone releases that come preloaded with Nougat.

Which version of Android are you running?

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