Despite having two notable after it, Android Marshmallow proved to be a great acceptable OS among users but it has finally been taken down from the top position by its immediate successor – Nougat. The 18-Month old Android Nougat is now the most popular Android version as of the February Android Distribution numbers.
Android Nougat now commands a market dominance of 28.5%, tailed closely by Marshmallow that runs on 28.1% of all Android smartphones. Android Lollipop taking up 24.6%, KitKat 12%, JellyBean 5%, Oreo still fighting hard with 1.1% and ICS and Gingerbread at 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.
Android Distribution Numbers
Below is the Android distribution numbers for February 2018:
| Android Version | Codename | API | Distribution |
| 2.3.3-2.3.7 | Gingerbread | 10 | 0.30% |
| 4.0.3-4.0.4 | Ice Cream Sandwich | 15 | 0.40% |
| 4.1.x | Jelly Bean | 16 | 1.70% |
| 4.2.x | “ | 17 | 2.60% |
| 4.3 | “ | 18 | 0.70% |
| 4.4 | KitKat | 19 | 12.00% |
| 5 | Lollipop | 21 | 5.40% |
| 5.1 | “ | 22 | 19.20% |
| 6 | Marshmallow | 23 | 28.10% |
| 7 | Nougat | 24 | 22.30% |
| 7.1 | “ | 25 | 6.20% |
| 8 | Oreo | 26 | 0.80% |
| 8.1 | “ | 27 | 0.30% |
In comparison, the adoption in iOS ecosystem is very high. iOS 11, which is the most recent, 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 diversity in manufacturing companies such as Samsung, TECNO, OPPO and some other phone makers 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.
