Android 6.0 Marshmallow has seen one of the slowest growth rates ever since it was first released towards the end of last year.
The operating system is currently rolling out to a number of devices all over the world. Even though Google availed the operating system last October, it is only reaching some major handsets from last year, among them Samsung’s line of Galaxy S series as well as the Galaxy Note series, Xperia Z5 series as well as devices from other makers such as LG, HTC and Motorola, among others.
The slow process of rolling out updates to devices has been blamed on carriers and smartphone manufacturers. This is because those using Google’s line of Nexus smartphones received Android 6.0 Marshmallow last year, yet the same update has yet to reach other devices. The same is also happening with the monthly Android security updates.
The fact that Android M has a slow adoption rate was reflected in last month’s stats from the Android team. According to the stats, Android M had only 2.3% of the entire market share, which is contrary to Android KitKat’s 34.3%. Back then, Android 5.0 Lollipop was available on 16.9% of all Android devices whereas Android 5.1 Lollipop featured on 19.2% of all devices powered by the Google-owned OS.
With Android 6.0 Marshmallow now aged six months, it seems things are starting to shine. However, it remains to be unknown whether the light will remain bright in the path of Marshmallow, especially now that Android N has already taken over with its hype. According to the latest stats, Android 6.0 M has doubled its market share from last month’s 2.3% to 4.6%. This is great news for Google as it preps to introduce a new OS in the market, but the move hasn’t stopped Android KitKat and Lollipop from being dominants.
Despite being the dominant figure, Android Lollipop’s combined market share of 36.1% was cut to 35.8%. Of course, Lollipop’s loss appears to be Marshmallow’s gain. As mentioned earlier, popular devices from the likes of Samsung, LG, HTC, Huawei, Xiaomi, Motorola and many others are just stepping into the Marshmallow niche and more will be shifting in the coming months. With this in mind, expect to see a steady increase in the market share of Android 6.0 Marshmallow in the market.
Despite this growth, the figure is still very small, especially when looking at the huge number of Android devices out there. Furthermore, the 4.6% market share the OS currently holds is still lower than what Android Lollipop (5.4%) had at the same time last year.